Harry Potter, Astra Knight and the Dragon stone
by Ehren Hatten
Summary: Harry and Astra are back once more in this new adventure taking place four years after Omega Time. Harry's a father and dealing with not only fatherhood, but a group of wizards are gathering under a leader who could rival Voldemort. CH THIRTEEN UP!
1. Nighttime Chase

A/N: Okay, for all who have been waiting very patiently for another Hp-AK story, you've got your wish. This is the latest in the HP-AK faniverse and takes place after all the weddings took place. Infact, it's two years after the weddings took place. Hope you like it, cause I'm gonna try hard to make it fun.

Also, listen to National Treasure Soundtrack, cause it's freakin' awesome and I'm listening to it too. Nightwish and Within Temptation are good while writing this as well. Have fun!

Harry Potter, Astra Knight And the Dragon Stone

Chapter One

There is nothing as scary as the dark alleyways of London at night. Predators come out, much like in highly populated cities like New York City. They're private places where all someone needs to do is grab you from behind and slit your throat to keep you quiet. However, that doesn't include the other things in the equation, such as the fact that the alleyways aren't all that wide and slitting one's throat would require a contortionist to perform it.

One such alleyway had a dark figure watching the street. His bright green eyes watched with curiosity and fervor, hoping to catch a magical criminal, even a muggle one, in the act of crime, before he could hurt someone. Harry Potter stared from his perch on a dumpster as he watched a cat jump down from a trash bin and trot away.

He sighed. It had been four years since he had left Hogwarts and destroyed Voldemort, but his scar still remained as a reminder of what could happen. After Hogwarts, he went directly into training as an Auror. During his training, he married Ginny Weasley and now she was probably waiting up with Lily tucked in her crib.

Lily. He smiled at the thought of his little daughter. He named her after his mother, for the sake of the fact that Lily looked very much like his mother, with bright red hair and bright green eyes. That was why he was an Auror; so that his family and his friends would be safe. He'd made that choice a long time ago, accepted the fact that he was destined to be a protector instead of someone normal.

Something moved.

Harry narrowed his eyes and shifted back into the darkness, watching and listening. It was a wizard all right. He was cloaked and had his hood up. He sat very still as he watched the wizard come out of the darkness, turn toward him and then run.

Harry jumped down from the dumpster and ran after the wizard. "Stop!" he called out, his wand ready.

The wizard ran at a faster pace. Harry was having trouble keeping up. How did this man run so fast!

The wizard dodged into another Alleyway and Harry stopped to the side of it, holding wand to his chest, ready to fire if he had to. He looked around the corner and pointed the wand into the darkness. Nothing. There was nothing there that he could see. Of course, the darkness was about as thick as pea soup and about as appetizing.

There was a strange smell and he saw a flash of light in the distance.

"Fire," he muttered as he ran off at it.

He hit the ground as a red beam of light shot out at him. The man he was chasing was a wizard all right. He had a wand and all.

Harry got to his feet and sent a restraining spell in the direction of the wizard. The wizard dodged and disappeared again.

Harry ran after the wizard once again, his cloak flapping behind him. He wore sneakers instead of some of the things that the other Aurors wore, which were more like boots. Boots made too much noise. Nothing like rubber soles hitting hard pavement to sneak up on someone.

Again, he couldn't move as fast as the wizard he was chasing. Suddenly, he felt a stabbing pain in his right leg. He dropped to the ground, clutching his leg. "ARGH!"

He saw the wizard turn and stop, looking at him. He couldn't see much of the face except a smile. A very malicious smile. Then, he ran off again.

Harry staggered to his feet and ran as hard as he could after the wizard, limping as his leg felt like it had a knife in it. Then, his other leg gave out.

He hit the ground. He held his wand out and shot another restraining spell at the wizard, but a stab of pain shot through his wand arm. "ARGH! HELP!"

He saw the flash of fire again. He smelled it. Someone was burning paper and various other things in a trashcan not far off. He heard faint singing as well. Or was that chanting?

"Great. Just bloody great. I have a blasted voodoo witch sticking me with pins! Why does everything happen to me?" He growled and pushed himself to his feet and ran at the firelight.

He felt another stab in his stomach, but he ignored it as best as he could, holding his wand up and shooting a curse at the witch. He dropped the knife and hit the ground gurgling, boils and other things started to grow on her.

The pain stopped and he took off after the wizard he had been chasing. In the alleyway, the wizard had disappeared. Harry sighed and leaned against the brick wall of a building. He hadn't been able to catch the wizard.

He heard a few cracks nearby and knew they were some of his compatriots. A crash told him his friend Nymphadora Tonks had accidentally run into something. "AH! Don't you dare laugh at me, Shacklebolt!" she growled.

Harry smirked and staggered over. In the light of the fire, his comrades had tied up the witch and she was an awful sight. He hadn't really thought about what he was doing when he'd fired at her. He suddenly felt a bit sorry for her. He winced slightly.

Tonks giggled. "Nice job, Harry. Now all you have to do is not somehow destroy the body when you fire a curse at them."

Harry smiled faintly, leaning against the wall of the building next to him, rubbing his forehead. He was on the cusp of being a full Auror. This had been a test run of sorts, he supposed, which was why they let him do it on his own. "Are you all right, Potter?" Shacklebolt was looking at him carefully, though he almost blended in with the darkness.

Harry nodded. "I will be." He thought about how the wizard grinned at him when he first fell to the voodoo magic. He looked to Shacklebolt and grimaced. "Did you lot know there was a voodoo witch along with the wizard that I was supposed to deal with?"

Tonks blinked and shook her head. She looked to Shacklebolt and he shook his head.

Harry grunted and rubbed his wand arm. The pain was gone, but when he rubbed the very place where the witch had thrust the knife into the doll, he felt a pinch of pain.

Tonks lifted the doll from the ground and held it up. "It's wax and it has a bit of your hair, Harry."

Harry looked over at Tonks. "How did she get my hair?"

Shacklebolt looked severe. "Maybe someone took a lock from you before—"

"It was a trap," Harry grunted. "I was set up. This was a chance for me to show I was a good auror and I was set up in a mousetrap."

"Indeed you have, Mr. Potter. However, you should have paid more attention to the fire instead of the wizard that was running," said a familiar growling tone. Mad Eye Moody glared at Harry from the darkness.

The thing about Moody was that he was very scary looking anyway. However, someone played a joke on him not a couple years ago and somehow he ended up looking even more frightening. Tonks held up a sign that said "Freakishly Handsome Moody" and pointed to Moody as he walked in front of her.

He burnt the sign to a crisp. "I am not freakish," he growled.

Harry could have corrected him, but he kept his grin to himself. Moody was not so stooped over anymore and his hair was thicker now, long and white around him. He wore a dark blue coat with silver fastenings on it and had his collar turned up so that it hid most of his still very scared face.

"I can't keep track of everything, sir," Harry said in his defense to Moody's statement before.

Moody turned and glared at Harry. "You have to, boy, or you'll be killed!" he growled. Ever since Harry joined the Aurors, he'd been pretty much under Moody's wing and didn't like it at all.

Moody looked to Tonks and Shacklebolt and glared at them, though his swiveling blue eye turned on Harry. "Keep constant vigilance. Take out the greater of the two evils before gong after the lesser! Have I not taught you enough, boy?"

Moody turned to Harry again and whacked him across the shins with his wand. Harry leaped back with a pained expression. Moody walked out of the darkness into the street and disappeared with a crack. Tonks and Shacklebolt disappeared as well with the witch.

"But where did the other bloke go?" he muttered. "Who set it up? Was this a test by the 'higher beings' upstairs?" The Higher Beings, as Harry had a tendency to call them, were the organizers and the higher-ups that oversaw the Aurors. They sent out people when they had proof or intelligence that told them where to send people. Otherwise, most of the Aurors were used to patrol areas like your average policeman.

Harry disappeared with a crack and a sigh.

In the darkness, someone watched the entire scene carefully. Dark eyes carefully scanned the area in case there was another Auror nearby and then he walked deeper into the darkness. "Another time, Potter," the man said in a low voice.

Harry arrived home and put his cloak onto the peg near the door. He pulled off his sneakers and collapsed on the sofa. His whole body still ached from the night. He was about to doze off when something caught his attention.

"I thought you had said you would be home earlier," said a familiar and pleasant voice. Ginny Potter walked into the room and smiled at her husband. "Lily wanted you to read her a story, as usual. Daddy's little girl," she grinned and winked at Harry.

Harry smirked slightly. "A very rough night, Ginny. Moody sent me out on my own for one of his little tests and I was set upon by a witch with a voodoo doll of me."

Ginny frowned. "I know you can take care of yourself, Harry, but you really should be more careful."

Harry nodded and sighed, rubbing his face. "I ache all over now."

Ginny thought for a moment and looked around. It wasn't so hard living with Harry, however, even after two years of marriage, she was still getting used to the whole thing. She was only twenty and she already had a one year old baby girl to take care of while her year older husband took his falls as an Auror.

Harry motioned to Ginny to come over. She sat down beside him and he pulled her into his lap. He kissed her gently and then ran his fingers through her hair. "I'm sorry if I worry you so much. I'm trying my hardest to not screw up. I never want you and Lily to be alone."

Ginny smiled and caressed her husband's cheek. "I know. Just be careful, all right?" Then, she got up and walked back into the bedroom.

Harry sat back on the sofa and looked to the walls. On the walls were pictures of Ginny's family, the Weasleys and his other friends with him in other pictures. He stared at one picture that had Ginny and him at their wedding. He smiled. That was a strange day. Never before could he believe that a great bunch of Deatheaters could stoop so low as to wreck a wedding, but then they'd taken Ginny and acted like complete fools.

There was another picture that caught his eye. The Malfoys. He never thought the Malfoys could ever be friends of the family to him until his friend Astra Knight married Draco Malfoy. Even before then, Draco Malfoy was beginning to be placed further into an isolated area rather than with the rest of the Slytherins just because he had a mudblood, half human girlfriend.

Now they had a child. He remembered seeing Astra balloon up while still training and, against other's protests, she performed against Moody until she was just too hindered to continue. He hadn't seen her after she left for a while to go to America. That was a year ago.

He looked to his friends Ron and Hermione smiling and waving at him in a photograph of them at their new house that all the Weasleys pitched in to build near The Burrow. Mrs. Weasley didn't want her youngest son to be so far away.

The same went with Ginny. They lived a couple miles away from the little farmhouse, though in a house that wasn't built for them. It had already been there for quite some time and the older Weasley brothers helped in repairing it for them.

Harry stood up and stretched, yawning. He was tired and he needed to get some sleep. He walked into the bedroom and laid down next to Ginny, snuggling up against her warm body before falling asleep with his arm around her. 


	2. Something Wicked

A/N: thank you to all who reviewed! I'm so happy I got people reading this stuff.

Anyhoot, so yeah. If you really want to get into the identity of the evil mysterious guy, you'll have to look into the minor characters of the past three stories, not counting To Have and To Hold.

That's all I'm going to say.

Oh and a special thank you to Dazed Marauder, Lady Chuckles, Emmamoonpotter and Eric2.

Chapter Two

Harry woke up and got dressed in his usual clothes and pulled on his Auror cloak. He walked into the kitchen and found his little daughter sitting in a high chair playing with a breadroll. He saw Ginny flipping an omelet and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Oh! Good morning, Harry," she chuckled. "Would you like some of my horribly cooked omelets?"

Harry laughed. He knew she couldn't cook very well, but he didn't care. He could compensate for it. "You really should let me do the cooking, since you tend to make food inedible," he grinned as he leaned against the counter.

She swatted him with the spatula. "Don't make me hit you again, Harry!" She grunted indignantly and put the broken and cheesy omelet on a plate.

Harry picked up the plate and saluted her before sitting down at the table beside his daughter. Lily giggled happily and beat the breadroll on the tray top of the highchair.

Harry grinned and kissed Lily's forehead and stroked her vivid red hair affectionately. "Looks as though someone is at least on my side," he chuckled.

Ginny stuck her tongue out at Harry and put her hands on her hips, looking much like her mother. After a moment, Ginny grinned at Harry.

Harry dug into the omelet with a fork and was surprised by a dribble of hot cheese landing on his leg. "YEOWCH!" he cried out as he rubbed hastily at the cheese spot.

Ginny spun around and laughed at the ridiculous image her husband made as he fanned at his lap hastily. She picked up her wand and removed the spot with a smile. "There, now you don't have to change for work."

Harry grinned at her and went back to eating. He thought about the previous night and wondered about the voodoo doll and the bit of hair that had been glued to its head. How did get a hold of his hair?

A breadroll bounced off his head to announce that he should be paying more attention to Lily instead of eating and thinking of work. He smirked and looked to his watch. "Gah! I'll be late! I'll be home at the usual time, Ginny!" He stood up and ran for the newspaper.

"No you—"

CRACK!

"…. Won't." Ginny sighed and went back to her daughter and feeding the both of them.

Harry walked off of the lift and into the Auror's offices, the morning's Daily Prophet in front of him. They were talking about someone who had been murdered the previous night. He sighed. There weren't enough aurors to spread around to prevent such occurrences.

A spell shot out at him and he jumped back. "GAH!" He had his wand ready and looked around the office for the expected offender.

Another spell shot out at him and he dodged again. He ran and hid in someone's cubicle, peering around the corner. Where was he?

A shout and Harry lunged away from the cubicle as Mad Eye Moody landed on the desk. "You have much to learn still, Potter!" he growled out before lunging at Harry.

Harry rolled away and shot a restraining spell at Moody. A satisfying thump later and Moody was glaring up at Harry. "Very good. Now release me, Potter."

Harry gazed down at his mentor. "Maybe I shouldn't if you keep up these blasted attacks. Ginny will have my hide if I come home with another scratch."

"Damn women! You're an auror now, Harry! You will be coming home missing LIMBS if you're damned good!" Moody grumbled as Harry sighed and released him.

"Achem," said a polite tone. Both men turned to see Tonks tapping her foot impatiently at Moody.

Moody waved his hand dismissively. "All right, all right, not all women are the like!" Then, he scowled at Tonks. "But you're an exception!" Then, he stalked off.

Harry watched Moody walk off before he burst out laughing. Tonks was suitably doubled over with tears in her eyes. "I don't know how you do it, Tonks. Or any of the other ladies that work here."

"He gets accustomed to being around us and we know a few things about keeping men in their place," she said with a grin.

Harry grinned back and walked to his cubicle. "New information on the bloke I was chasing?" he asked Tonks.

She sighed and shook her head. "All we know is what we saw. Some guy came out of nowhere, lured you into a trap and then you took care of the witch; which I might add, she is looking a great deal better now. However, she's also dead."

Harry snapped around to look at her with wide eyes. The color drained from his face. Had he killed someone with his carelessness?

She read his expression easily. "Not your fault, Harry. She was waiting in the holding cell when we came to ask her some questions, we found her dead on her bed."

"Poison?"

Tonks shook her head. "No. No marks, no potions, she was just dead. Which is odd, because she wasn't even that old. Come and have a look at her, if you want. She's in the morgue right now."

Harry turned from white to green in a split second. "No thanks. I'll pass."

"You're patrolling tonight again. Moody wants you to get more 'expirience' again," Tonks said as she leaned against Harry's cubicle wall. Suddenly, there was a creak and Harry turned in time to see the wall give way and Tonks land on her rear on top of the wall and someone caught underneath it.

Harry grinned. "Walking disaster area, you are." Then, he reached down to help her up. They both pulled the wall away and found someone rather familiar. "Hello, Mr. Weasley."

Arthur Weasley got to his feet and brushed himself off. "Oh! Hello, Harry…Nymph—Tonks. Sorry, was going to check on something for someone. Oh! Harry, do remember about coming over Saturday. See you later!" Then, Mr. Weasley trotted off.

Harry watched him walk off and clicked the cubicle wall in place. "So… I get to patrol again, tonight. Do you think I'll get a break from Moody if I actually catch anyone?"

Tonks grinned. "Doubt it."

Suddenly, Harry noticed a bit of a clamber over at the World Wizarding Radio. He turned his on and sat down.

"We interrupt 'Baby, You're My Sign' by The Zodiac to give you this special report. Mr. James Seaport was found dead in the street in the middle of London. His body was mutilated and his head had a strange symbol etched into it ritualistically. This is said to have been done by rogue Deatheaters, though the mark left was written on the wall nearest the body was not the Dark Mark, but of a new symbol. The same etched onto the forehead of Mr. Seaport. We now return you to the top ten hits."

Harry looked up at Tonks and she looked just as he felt. Sick. It was like the killings in his seventh year, only that was done by Voldemort and his lackey Donovan and Donovan's pet. He remembered the people that had died because of that stupid countdown.

"Looks as though this might be a rough night, Harry. We'll all be patrolling at this news," Tonks said.

Harry nodded and then stared at the radio on his desk. What was happening out there? Voldemort was gone, but the Deatheaters still lurked about. That wasn't good. He'd thought that they had all been rounded up and sent off to Azkaban, barring a few individuals, who had simply decided to keep to themselves in the last days of pulling out all the followers.

All of those that didn't go to Azkaban were being watched... constantly.

It didn't make sense that one of them had gone off and done precisely what they could not do. By now, the "Higher Beings" would have already heard about the dead man, though they knew about such things far ahead of even the news media. It was the lowers that got the news last. He was surprised he even got to hear it on the radio instead of from Moody.

A hooded female figure walked into the office somewhere around lunch, her hood hiding her face. What could be seen of her was extremely pale, as though she had never seen the light of day. Everyone who saw her figured her for a vampire, due to do complexion.

She walked off the lift and threw the maze of cubicles, her footsteps almost silent. She wore a black velvet cloak with black silk rope fastenings, a long dark red scarf handing from her neck.

Harry heard the footsteps faintly. They were slow in approaching, as though unsure of exactly where they wanted to end up. He leaned out of his cubicle and saw the cloaked woman. All he could see was the black cloak. "Hello? Do you need something?"

The woman looked up, but still he couldn't see her face. He saw a smile and she retreated into the maze. He grunted. He didn't like that smile. Was she one of those like the wizard he had chased the night before?

He got out of his chair and stalked out through the maze, following the black clad head. "Hello?" he called out. "Do you need something, miss?"

The head stopped walking and then ran for the lift. He dodged through the maze as other Aurors came out of their cubicles to see what was going on. He raced along one portion of the maze and found the woman at the other end. She waved and then jogged off.

Aurors started trying to make a grab for the woman, seeing Harry was so interested in her. She dodged them, evading grasp by mere centimeters. Her cloak even evaded them. It was as though it was a part of her body.

He gained on her as she rounded for the lift doors. Someone shouted for the doors to be closed and Shacklebolt appeared in the path of the woman. She ran straight at him and drove a fist into his jaw, literally knocking him into the wall as she ran through the doors.

Harry shouted, but the doors closed as the black clad woman waved at him again.

He gasped for breath as he leaned over on his knees. Kingsley Shacklebolt straightened from the wall and rubbed his jaw. "I 'ink 'e 'roke i'," he said without moving his jaw much. "'amn."

Harry looked to Shacklebolt and grimaced. A broken jaw? The woman must have hit him just right to do that.

"Harry! Did you catch her?" Kildare Rakes ran over, his blonde hair spiked this morning instead of it lying down as usual. "Did you know her?"

Harry shook his head. "No… at least I don't think I do. Get Shacklebolt to a mediwitch. He's got a broken jaw."

Rakes bobbed his head and tugged the bewildered Shacklebolt along with him. The man towered over Rakes, which made the image of seeing tiny Rakes leading this poor man off to have his jaw looked at.

Another mystery to solve and not enough evidence to give him an idea as to what was going on. This is what he hated about being a protector. He hardly ever got enough information without someone else to help.

St. Mungo's had its share of whackos and loonies, but it also was a hospital for magical maladies, such as your toes being on fire because you'd used the Blue Bell Fire spell to warm your feet and you'd somehow screwed up the spell.

Harry walked into the hospital. Helping some poor child with a beak for a nose was a very familiar face. Mrs. Hermione Weasley looked up to see him just as she transfigured the child's face back to normal. Then, she stood up and arched her back as she stretched. "Harry!"

She had trouble hugging Harry because of the bulk of her round stomach. "How are you, Hermione?" he asked, chuckling as she fretted over the bulk.

"I've been better. Ron was fussing over me this morning again, thinking I was going to pass out or something. You would think he would realize I'm not made of glass and neither is his baby," she grunted.

Harry laughed. "How is Ginny and Lily?" she asked.

He grinned. "Ginny swears that Lily is the last due to her overwhelming need to be with her daddy."

Hermione smirked. "It would be better if you hadn't had become an Auror. All of us never know when you're coming back to us whole or in pieces. Especially with Mad Eye Moody dictating your every move."

Harry grunted. "I can take care of myself, Hermione. Ginny knows I'll come out all right, just as you and Ron do."

Hermione put her hands up in defense and sighed. "All right, all right." She grunted as the baby kicked. "Urgh. You would think that the baby would stop moving so much."

"You try being cramped in a hot, wet area for nine months and see if you don't move," Harry countered with a grin. He dodged a swat from Hermione.

Hermione smiled after a moment and patted Harry on the arm. "I hope to see you Saturday for the family dinner."

Harry nodded and trotted off out of St. Mungo's. 


	3. A Knight in Shining Armor

A/N: More Questions and no answers, yes? Well, tough, cause you're only in the first two chapters and you don't get answers that easily. XP Bah, I'm playing around. I'm not irritated at ya'll for askin'. It's good ya'll ask, otherwise what would I have to write about? Lol

Besides, I like the feedback. It tells me someone actually pays attention to what I do and also gives me some things to think about if you give me the right feedback. Like the question of "When did Astra get her elf powers back?" for that one chapter of Omega Time when she split in two. Human Astra's threat was to electrocute Malfoy, because the FULL ELF Astra was on Malfoy's back. They may be separate, but they'll follow each other to the one goal if they have too, kind of thing.

So yeah, I do read the reviews. .

As for when Astra's going to show up….. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Like I'm really going to answer that one. If you don't know already, which I have no doubt someone already does, then you'll just have to read.

Chapter Three

Another dark alley and another dark night. Harry was getting sick of this, but it was a part of his job. He was perched on the fire escape of a building, watching the alley below. At least he wasn't on a dumpster.

This time, he really did have a purpose and not just to watch out for someone about to do a crime or run from him, he had to watch to see anyone suspicious was lurking about. He had to watch the people on the street as well as the animals and the people walking into the alleyway.

He sat up straight as a board when he heard something enter the alleyway from the other direction. He would get hit on the shins for not paying attention, so he looked around silently to see what had come in.

He couldn't see the other person very well, but he could see little bit of what could be a black cloak. It was so black that it seemed to swallow the light from the surrounding area.

He stared harder. It moved and he could tell someone was looking up at him, but he couldn't see their face. He caught the flash of a grin and then, the person took off running.

He grunted. He'd pay hell on Earth if he didn't find out who that was. He jumped down from his perch until he hit the ground, running after the would-be suspect.

"Hey! Get back here!" he called.

He caught only a glimpse of black cloak going around a corner and then disappeared, no sound coming from the shoes the person was wearing hitting the pavement.

He growled and apparated to the roof top to see down into the alleyway. Nothing. He saw nothing. He sighed and watched carefully, sitting on the edge of the roof.

He looked up and saw a silhouette. The cloak was flapping slightly in the breeze and the hood was up, but it wasn't the same person he had been chasing before. He stood up and stared at the person opposite of him. Then, they disapparated, but without the accompanying sound.

He blinked, looking about. It was almost as though the person wasn't even there, but he knew better. He shook his head and looked down into the alleyway. He saw a brief flash and apparated into alleyway. He needed a better look.

He prayed silently for it to not be another voodoo witch, but then he thought, how many voodoo witches were there in England?

He found the source of light and found it to be someone burning some paper trash. It was a short man wearing a coat and balding. The man turned to look to Harry and smiled briefly a pleasant smile. "Hullo, wha' brings the likes o' you ou' in the dead o' nigh'?"

Harry looked about in case he was in another trap. When he finished taking in his surroundings, he looked back to the little man. "Walking… I wanted a breath of air."

The man coughed as smoke hit his face. "Well, ye won' be gettin' any aroun' here, mate."

Harry snorted slightly and nodded. He waved to the man and turned to walk away.

Just then, he heard a scream. He apparated to the rooftops and jumped onto another building; running towards the sound. He maneuvered himself along one roof toward an area that Tonks was patrolling.

He heard the scream again and ran full out to the edge and looked over. He couldn't see anything, but he knew something was wrong. He disapparated to the ground and stealthily looked about; hiding behind a pair of trashcans.

Something was different. He heard another scream and a gasp. He saw a woman shielding her face from something. "No! Please, no! What did I do?!" she gasped.

He couldn't see who was talking, but he could hear them. It was a man with a deep voice. "You know very well what you have done," the man growled.

The woman was a witch, as she drew a wand to protect herself. This only seemed to bring a laugh from the man. "Do you really think you can harm me? No one can. I am invincible. Now, tell me where you hid it and maybe you'll die a much more painless death than your friend."

"I don't know what you are talking about!" the woman gasped.

Harry pulled out his wand and shot a force spell at the woman, knocking her away from the man as he ran out; his wand trained on the wizard. He saw no face, but he recognized the cloak. It was the wizard he'd chased before. "You! Who are you!" he growled out at the wizard.

He caught the flash of a malicious grin. Harry dodged just in time to avoid being cursed. The woman groaned as she got to her feet. Harry saw her and dodged behind a bunch of trash; which promptly exploded onto him.

"The secret lies within," the woman growled and shot a spell at the wizard. "And you're never getting it!"

The wizard stood stock still as the spell hit…and continued standing. Nothing had happened to him. It was as though he'd built up a shield around himself. Harry got out from behind his smelly hiding place, wand ready to fire.

The woman dropped to the ground and writhed in agony. Harry launched himself at the man, knocking him to the ground. He was shoved off like he was nothing, hitting the brick wall opposite of them. "No! You aren't….harming.. anyone!" he gasped out as he tried to gain the ability to think properly again. The blow from hitting the wall was making it difficult to think.

He staggered, holding his wand up to shoot at the wizard, but he hit the ground on his back. There was a scream of agony and he couldn't even stand to save the woman. He gritted his teeth, trying to get up again, but his head was swimming. He was going unconscious and he could not allow that to happen.

"TELL ME! WHERE IS IT!" the wizard growled.

The woman cried out in agony, writhing on the ground. The wizard put his wand down to let her speak, but she could barely think, let alone move. "I…I…"

"Why don't you tell your ass good-bye!" said another growl.

Harry struggled to get to his feet as he watched something clad in a rich black cloak with black silk rope fastenings. He caught a flash of silver on the front of the robes, but he couldn't see what it was. It was a woman, was all he could tell, and that black clad woman had tackled the wizard to the ground and was punching him on the jaw.

The wizard threw her off and she landed on her feet, hitting against the wall Harry was still trying to work his way up. Her hood was up still, but he caught a flash of a face, a very pale face and glint off something shiny.

Her wand was out and the wizard dodged the curse aimed at him. The woman in black dodged a spell aimed at her, which left a sort of electric charge in the wall Harry was leaning against. The man ran off and so did the woman, leaving Harry and the witch alone.

There were several cracks around him. He felt someone lift him up and saw Shacklebolt with his jaw healed. "Is… she all right?"

Tonks, or what Harry assumed to be Tonks, walked over to the fallen witch and helped her up. "She'll be fine," said the old woman with Tonks' voice.

Moody grumbled, his white hair swirling about his head in the breeze. "Where did he go?"

"You were watching, right?" asked Harry, his head still fuzzy.

Moody growled and started for the alleyway that both the woman and the man had disappeared down. "Nothing. He's gone," he grumbled.

"Who was that witch that showed up to help me?" Harry asked, Shacklebolt supporting him.

"Witch?" Tonks asked; her body and face returning to what was normal for Tonks. "What witch?"

Harry's head began to clear as Shacklebolt tapped his head with his wand. He could stand on his own now and peered about. "What do you mean? She showed up. I thought she was someone from the offices," he said slowly.

Tonks shook her head and looked to Shacklebolt. "No… I saw no one, did you Kingsley?" Shacklebolt shook his head.

Moody grunted. "All right, you lot, take the woman back to headquarters. I want a full story, pronto!" Then, he disapparated with a loud and angry crack. The others disappeared in a similar fashion, leaving Harry alone.

Harry looked about, walking into the middle of where the fight had taken place. He kneeled down and looked to the wet ground. He saw nothing. Pavement had a tendency to do that, show nothing.

He glanced up when he heard the flap of a cloak. It was dark, but the other end of the alley had light. A woman was silhouetted in the darkness. He stood up quickly, grabbing his wand. "Who are you!" he growled. He'd had enough of these games.

Her hood was up and she walked as though she had no arms, nothing to indicate true body movement except her legs making the cloak billow when she walked. "WHO ARE YOU!"

She said nothing as she walked toward him until she was within the darkness. He ran over, ready to curse her into an oblivion. However, he reached the darkness he'd seen her walk into and found no one. Nothing was here.

He punched the wall next to him and held his hand when pain shot through it. He sighed as he leaned against the offending wall. Nothing could be simple anymore.

Then, he disapparated.

Atop the very building Harry had been leaning against, the wind caught a woman's cloak. A smile played across the woman's face as she stood up and straightened her cloak. "Next time… next time I'll show him. Not now, though." Then, she disapparated.

Harry sat in the holding area, watching one of the older women console the victim. "Can you tell me why he attacked you?" the older woman asked.

"No… no, I don't know," the witch he'd helped save said. Her name turned out to be Sylvia Tempest.

The older woman looked to Harry, since he was the one that got there first. He shrugged. He wasn't entirely certain what went on himself. He was watching Sylvia Tempest very sharply. He remembered vaguely what she had said before. The secret lay within.

He sighed, took off his glasses and rubbed his face, feeling very tired. His patrol shift was over; they had plenty of other people to patrol if they needed someone. He sighed and walked to the lift doors.

Once out of the Ministry of Magic, he walked along the street. He was tired, but he wanted to think, so he walked instead of apparating directly to home. The wizard he had fought was trying to kill that woman, Ms. Sylvia Tempest, and she knew why. He knew it.

He turned a corner and walked into an alleyway. Leaning against a wall, he slid down until he was sitting on the pavement. "Work isn't usually so tough," he said aloud to no one.

He looked over to the lighted end of the alleyway and stared tiredly at it. Something appeared there. A female shape. Her cloak billowed in the breeze. She looked very much she should be some comic book hero, which he knew didn't really exist.

He got to his feet quickly, his wand out. It was the woman from before. "I've had enough! Who are you! Tell me or I'll curse you into something akin to a slug!"

The woman came closer and he saw a face under the hood, or partially. He could see a smile. "You already know me," she said in a very American accent. "I had thought I could play with you a bit more, but I guess I crossed the line to irritating, huh."

Harry was about to ask what she meant when she reached up and pulled the hood off. Familiar silver hair was pulled back into a pair of knots near the nape of her neck. Extremely pale skin shown in the pale moonlight made her freckles look darker than they should have been. He looked to her neck and saw the familiar Aeturnus knot pendent.

"Astra," he breathed.

She grinned. "Yup. I'm back and ready for action."

"But… I thought you had a baby… and were living in America!" Harry was confused, but happy to see his friend.

"I was living in America… with my mom and gran. They were helping me while Draco continued with managing things here. I had my baby and took care of him until I could go back to work, which I might add, is here. I brought him back home and now Draco's taking care of the baby while I'm out."

Harry took it all in. Draco taking care of a baby was about as plausible as a rooster turning into a lightning rod. The image alone was entertaining. He grinned and hugged Astra. "You scared the daylights out of me, you realize that?"

Astra laughed. "I bet. Earlier today, I was re-registering myself here as a working auror for the Ministry of Magic instead of being one for the American Wizard government. I mean, if I'm staying in England, I might as well call it home, right? However, I must say I prefer the American government to the British one. This government sucks horribly."

Harry shot her a look and then shrugged after a moment. "It's home."

She smirked. "Yeah… home. Anyway, so are you going to go home now, or do I have to tell Ginny and she gets to hurt you."

Harry grinned, then, he disapparated.

Astra looked on in the darkness and smirked. She was back all right, and she was on the team once again. 


	4. Family Fun

A/N: I have a cat in my lap currently, so she's getting irritated at me. lol So tell me, are you happy that Astra is back now? Need I ask that question? Lol XP

I've been taking a Driving class, so I do this when I get home somewhere around 9pm. I type fairly fast most of the time and thankfully MSWord has a spell/grammar check, cause half the time I'm not even sure what I'm typing. Then, I write some more after I get off of the 'net until 3am. I do this instead of draw because I can get it done quickly and it still uses my brain.

So yeah, Astra showed up, glad ya'll liked it! Yeah, Astra's like the only one who could have put Shacklebolt down the way she did. And as for updating, I upload the chapter and whatnot, but I still have to wait till someone reads it for it to get the OK to go up. So kudos to whoever looks through these things!

Chapter Four

Saturday came without much happening after that night with the strange wizard and Sylvia Tempest. Harry picked up his daughter and they looked to Ginny as one with a grin.

"Like father like daughter," she chuckled as she shook her head. She sighed as she looked to the floo powder. "I don't suppose we could use the floo network, could we."

Harry bounced Lily up and down in his arms and shook his head. "No, she's much too young and she could end up getting hurt or lost, or worse."

Ginny sighed. "I hate apparating."

"It's the safest way, barring using a car, which I might add, we don't have at this moment," Harry said before kissing Lily on the forehead.

Ginny smiled at her husband and daughter. He hardly ever had the chance to be with his daughter, due to the long hours of an Auror, but he seemed just content to take over the job of taking care of his child when he was there. Ginny enjoyed watching them together. It reminded her that everything was right in the world.

"Agah!" Lily squealed.

Harry reached out and wrapped his arm around Ginny's waist and kissed her temple. "I love you," he whispered and then they disappeared with a crack.

The garden in the back of The Burrow was vast and was now holding much more than when Harry was fourteen. He saw Bill with Fleur on his arm, chuckling with his brother Charlie, who looked as freckly as ever. He sighted Percy with Penelope coming up to him with a glass of water and George with Nevaeh, who looked very pregnant. Ginny waved to her mother and giggled. "Mum, we're here!"

Mrs. Weasley came trotting out of the house, drying her hands on her apron and squealing with delight. She reached for Ginny and then Lily, hugging and kissing the two of them and then hugged Harry. "Oh my—You three look so wonderful! Harry, have you been taking care of Ginny as you promised?"

Ginny rolled her eyes and Harry grinned. "Yes…mum." Ginny hit Harry's shoulder and he dodged a little late, Mrs. Weasley chuckling as she cooed to her baby granddaughter. "Another girl—makes me so happy!"

There was a crack and Harry turned to see Ron and Hermione, who looked as though she was going to give birth any moment now. She gritted her teeth and stretched her back as she walked over to Harry, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley. "My goodness, child, you should be sitting down. RON! Go and get your wife a chair!"

Ron nodded and ran off in a hurry into the house and came out quickly with a chair. "Place it on the ground, Ron! She's not going to sit in your arms!"

Hermione protested slightly, but she was definitely eyeing the chair with greedy eyes. Harry chuckled at the automaton look on Ron's face, as though he almost ceased to truly exist and was now just one big nervous twitch. Hermione sat down carefully and patted Ron on the hand gently. "Thank you, Ron."

Ron mumbled incoherently and bobbed away, twitching at every movement around him. By now, Harry was bent over laughing and Lily was squealing with laughter because daddy was being funny. Especially when he was dodging blows from Ginny. "It's not that funny—all right it is that funny, but he's not like you, so stuff it!"

"HARRY! GINNY! YOU'RE HOME!" Mr. Weasley came trotting over from the shed and grinned broadly as he hugged them both and then cooed to Lily, who loved the attention.

"How has work been for you, Harry? Alistor isn't being too rough on you, is he?" asked Mr. Weasley when he finally looked over to Harry.

Harry shook his head. "No…not at all. I've come to expect quite a lot of what he does to me coming from him."

"I hear Moody tackles you every morning you walk into the offices," said Ron with a slight grin.

Harry felt a little heat rise in his cheeks. "Ah.. yeah. He does and lately, I've been getting better at figuring out where he's coming from."

Ron grinned and clapped Harry on the back. "That's our Harry! He could pick up on Moody coming from a mile away!"

"Did I hear someone say the H-word?" George came up behind Harry and grinned evilly. Harry had enough time to turn and smile a weak smile before being tackled by another Weasley hug. "Oi! Charlie! Bill! Percy! Harry's here!"

It was like a stampede, every brother left their women in the chance to pounce onto an already building heap on top of Harry. It was like a dog-pile only now it was a Harry-pile. "Gerroff me!" Harry grunted.

One by one, the brothers got away from Harry and grinned, Bill and Charlie shaking his hand and hugging him once again. "The grandly respected father of our Ginny's first baby," Bill chuckled.

"Indeed! Ever since last year when she was about ready to go, we've been planning a good, brotherly hello for you when the next family picnic happened with all of us here," said Charlie with an enormous grin.

Harry grunted indignantly. "You lot could have broken my neck."

After that, they filtered to the table and sat down, Fleur smiling at Harry as he passed her. "Hello, 'arry. Eet eez good to see you again."

"What do you think of what was reported, Harry?" asked Percy from a couple seats down, pushing a roll into his mouth as politely as possible while still pigging out like a good Weasley.

Harry looked to Percy. "Oh.. the killing of that wizard? James Seaport?" Percy nodded and Harry wondered if he was even allowed to say anything. "Ah.. well.. I don't actually get much information other than watch and wait, really." It was the truth, after all. The only thing he'd ever been told was that he was on patrol.

"Any clues as to who killed him?"

Harry thought about the wizard he and Astra battled and shook his head. "None."

The rest of dinner went fairly quietly. Harry seemed to not be asked as many questions now. They seemed to accept the idea of their new "family-in-law" as being an Auror and that he would tell them things when he had the ability to.

However, that didn't stop Harry from staring at his food broodingly and try fitting puzzle pieces together without vital clues. In the end, it was giving him a headache and making him irritable. A breadroll hit him on the head and he looked to Lily situated on Ginny's lap. She was staring straight at Harry as though she knew what was going on in her father's head and wanted him to feel a little better.

He stood up and walked into the house, finding himself at a row of pictures and that clock of the family. As he watched it, he gained a new sense of guilt in his stomach as he saw one hand was missing from the clock. Fred. He hadn't thought about Fred since he'd married Ginny. Indeed, he had little time to think about people. He wondered about those that had been killed by Voldemort's cronies in that ridiculous countdown that meant nothing other than an excuse to kill people. "I'm sorry, Fred," he muttered and leaned his head against the clock.

"You really shouldn't blame yourself, you know, Harry," said a familiar voice behind him. He didn't have to turn around to know it was George. "He said his good-byes to us all before he disappeared. He even made Draco jealous when he'd kissed Astra," George chuckled.

"I didn't catch on in time, George. Because of my lack of ability, Fred is dead," Harry said as he finally turned around. "I'm now a part of this family, but I felt the loss before then."

"Harry, you've always been a part of this family. Hell, Fred and I had been campaigning for years to get you and Ginny together!"

Harry chuckled. "And then Astra and Nevaeh pulled together an entire operation to have me and Ginny together as well as Ron and Hermione."

"Not to mention yours truly and Fred, while she pulled in the reserves, namely Cho, to pull it all off," said George. He stared at the clock and smirked faintly. "I think that was when he was truly falling for her; seeing her pull together something so big just for the sake of friendship and love. We all had a hand in making this future of ours, and she was one of the key people. She was only second to one other person."

Harry looked to George curiously. "Second only to you, Harry. You did the most work," George said with a grin.

Harry grinned and shook his head, looking out the window at Ginny, Hermione, Ron and all the other Weasleys. "No… I had friends. I had all of you with me," he said faintly.

George grinned and clapped Harry on the back before he walked back out, hugging and kissing Nevaeh when he ran up to her. Harry grinned and walked outside. Hermione was attempting to calm an incredibly stiff Ron, but every time she even LOOKED uncomfortable, he twitched violently. Bill was no where to be seen, but he heard a very musical and feminine giggle somewhere to the side in the garden. Charlie had disappeared. Percy was talking with Penelope and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were talking to them.

Ginny walked over and wrapped an arm around Harry, hefting up Lily on her side. Harry smiled and lifted Lily into his arms, holding her to him and kissing her forehead, making baby faces at her. Ginny giggled. "Like father, like daughter. She's going to have you wrapped around her little finger when she's older."

"And that's a bad thing?" Harry grinned. He let her swat him on the shoulder. It wasn't hard. She never hit him hard.

"What were you and George talking about, Harry?"

Harry looked over to George, who was holding Nevaeh from behind and had his hands on her belly, rubbing it gently, and probably feeling the baby move. He smirked. "Friends…. The family… the future."

Ginny laughed. "Is THAT all? Why not talk about the meaning of life and why the universe is a universe."

Harry kissed Ginny on the lips, holding her to him as he deepened the kiss just a little. He pulled away gently and kissed the tip of her nose. "I love you. I love our Lily. I love our family."

"Harry? Are you all right? You've never been so prosaic before," Ginny said with a bit of concern coming into her voice.

He grinned. "Never better." Ginny was about to swat him again when they both stopped…and sniffed.

Lily started crying. Harry grunted and took the diaper bag from Ginny and walked into the house. Ginny grinned as she watched her husband walk off. He adapted well to having to take care of a child as well as a family. She knew he wouldn't tell her what was wrong immediately, but in his own time. He tended to brood and she tended to bug him in sweet ways until he gave in. She would get the truth out of him…eventually. 


	5. Conspiracy

A/N: Thank ya'll for reviewing! You ask what relationship does Ginny have in this, or Astra's sister Avalon. I say have patience, folks. We're only in the very beginning. These things come out as we go along, mostly because that's pretty much how I'm functioning for now.

Mmmmm Junior Mints and Rootbeer. Lovely.

Chapter Five

Harry walked into the office with the Daily Prophet in front of him. There wasn't much to read about. Maybe someone sighted a certain flying motorcycle, and then had to be covered up by a certain couple of wizards who knew the idiot who flew it in broad daylight. He smirked. Sirius was certainly getting on well.

He turned a cubicle corner into the aisle he "resided" on. "WHAT?!" He stared at the picture of the woman he had helped save in the newspaper. He read quickly.

Sylvia Tempest died in her home the night Harry went to the Burrow to visit the Weasley clan. He turned the pages and flipped around, making a great deal of noise as he looked for more information. When he found none, he went back to the page. She had died from blood loss, at least that's what the article said, her body barely recognizable from multiple slashing and tearing, like an animal had ripped into her. He recognized that form of killing. He'd seen it before.

Harry racked his memory for any instance of people coming back from the great beyond and only came up with Voldemort, but he wasn't even truly dead. Harry had VISITED the great beyond, God's Land, and came back due to the powers of his own spirit and will to live as well as the Aeternus Light, which was Astra's prized possession. Donovan and Zilia couldn't have come back from the dead! He had seen Sirius rip out Donovan's throat and seen Zilia die. He had taken care of Voldemort himself!

Harry rubbed his head and went back to the article, looking for anything that would give him a clue. There was a small picture that, if he squinted, he could read something carved into her forehead. He was afraid of that. However, he couldn't get much more than an H, G, R, and T. "Damn," he muttered.

Suddenly, he was knocked down by someone landing on him. He threw whoever it was off and over him, rolling on his back for leverage. He got to his feet quickly, avoiding a kick at him and then had to shield himself with a spell from another attack. "Ah!" He ducked as another spell shot out at him.

"Moody! I think that's enough!" Harry growled. He saw a flash of Moody in his vision before he reached out with such speed that the rather quick Mad Eye Moody couldn't quite keep away from. He grabbed Moody by the collar and threw him down onto the floor. "I've had it up to HERE with these attacks, Moody!"

Moody grunted and glared up at Harry. "You still have much to learn, boy! Constant vigilance! What if I had been someone trying to KILL you!"

"Then, you would be dead," Harry growled as he let Moody go and stalked off to his cubicle.

He rubbed his forehead and glared down at the reports in front of him. As he started up on one, he heard a sort of cough. He turned. Astra was grinning down at him from over the cubicle wall. "What?" he grunted.

"So testy," she grinned. She came around and leaned against the wall. He saw her cloak and recognized it as the one he'd seen her in when she'd come into the office before and when she'd come around while he was on patrol. It truly was black velvet with a satin lining and on her left breast was a strange sort of design that he had to concentrate on to recognize as letters. One was a silver M, but the other was a silver star shaped A.

She followed his gaze and tapped the initials. "Remember, I'm Mrs. Astra Malfoy. No more K there."

Harry grinned. "I suppose Draco is home with the baby?"

She blushed and coughed into a black leather clad hand. "Uh… yeah. Little Kevin gets his daddy to handle him since I'm away most of the time."

"Including changing diapers?"

She nodded and Harry suddenly had a nasty image in his head of Draco trying to change a wiggling and wriggling baby. Especially a baby boy, which he'd heard stories from Molly Weasley to know that little baby boys knew exactly what to do with their extra appendage.

"Did you have fun at the Weasley's?" she asked, smiling broadly at him.

He grinned. "Ron is getting very twitchy. Mrs. Weasley had to direct him to get Hermione a chair to sit on."

"The poor girl, she gets the one voted most likely to die of a broken heart if she decided to take the baby and leave him. However, I think she knows that, so I doubt she would ever leave him," she grinned.

"Don't say things like that, they'll probably come true and no one wants a distraught Ron Weasley crying on their shoulder," said Harry with a grunt.

"Did you read the article in the News?"

Harry sighed and looked to the offending newspaper. "Yes. I don't understand it, she was supposed to be under our protection."

"No… she wasn't. I looked into it. It seems that she just went home the very next night and didn't go out at all, thinking she was safer on her own if she just stayed inside. Like a person trying to keep back a vampire." Astra pulled off her gloves and Harry saw the platinum wedding ring on her left hand, the cladough ring with the garnet heart. She cracked her knuckles as she thought. "Then, the very next day, one of us went over to her house to check up on her and found her dead, shredded, on the living room floor, blood everywhere."

"Have you had the chance to see what was on her forehead?" Astra shook her head and Harry grunted in frustration. "I know it's something important. It's a message. For who, I haven't a bloody clue, but it's a message."

She looked around and looked rather nervous, though Harry remembered enough about Astra to know that if she looked only slightly nervous on the outside, it meant that she was a giant nervous twitch on the inside. Her right leg jiggled as she looked around. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I think we can get some information on what is on her forehead. They're still investigating her body, or what was left of it, inside the morgue. The problem will be getting in there. We're aurors, so we might get away with just saying our names and going in and no one will suspect anything off. However, judging by what's been going on, we might need to sneak in there."

"Are you forgetting who is my brother-in-law?" Harry smirked. "Percy's the head of the Ministry of Magic. If he can't get us in, I don't know who can."

"No."

"Percy, please. We need to see what is on her forehead. It could be anything. It could be nothing. We don't know until we find out," said Harry.

"No, I can not let you go in there. It's top secret and you aren't at level with top secret files yet." Percy looked visibly uncomfortable as he sat in the big cushy chair behind his huge oak desk. He readjusted his glasses for the umpteenth time, looking like he was going to break out into a sweat.

"Percy, it's me, Harry. What is wrong?"

Percy readjusted his glasses again and looked at Harry above the rims. "There's nothing wrong. I just can't allow you access into the morgue at this moment."

"There's something wrong. You've never been this nervous before," said Harry as he gazed down at Percy.

"Percy, please. We need to see the body. Will you please just tell the Morgue desk that we're just doing some sort of inventory or some gofer guy activity like that?" Astra was gazing down at Percy with a decidedly more relaxed air to her.

Percy sighed and rubbed his head. "I….I can't." Then, he wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to Harry. Harry blinked at Percy and then nodded. Percy smiled and nodded, writing down something on another sheet of paper and then handed it to Astra. "I'm sorry, really. Why don't you go back to your desks and do your reports, all right Mr. Potter, Mrs. Malfoy?"

Astra glanced down at her paper and nodded. "Yes, sir."

Then, she grabbed Harry's arm and stalked out of the room, looking very much like she was going to break something along the way. They walked quickly, with Harry trying desperately to keep up with her, until they walked into a bathroom. Astra walked in and left Harry outside.

"Astra?" He blinked as he saw someone coming down the hall dressed in a black cloak. He looked to the restroom door and it opened suddenly, Astra grabbing him by the collar and kissing him as she pulled him through the door. Harry heard laughing from the man that was passing and the door closed. Harry gained enough of his senses to attempt forcing the odd girl off of him before Astra shoved him away, wiping her mouth on a hand and looking at her paper like nothing had happened. "Wh-what was that for!"

"Percy's being bugged. I heard someone coming down the hall, so I wanted to make sure it didn't look like we were about to conspire anything," she said in a calm and even tone as she looked over the paper.

"Bugged? You mean, someone is an actual bug in there or someone is listening in on Percy?"

"The latter. You could see it in the way he was acting. And then the notes. What does yours say?"

Harry looked to his paper. "Go to the morgue around five."

She nodded. "Mine says, 'I will help you. Five and then be quick. I can not speak this aloud'."

"Someone is watching in on Percy? Who?" Harry was getting confused. He knew that Fudge was crooked when he was in school, but Percy was the head now and he had power over everyone. Who had power over him?

"So we have to wait until five o'clock to get into the morgue? What is happening at five?" Harry rubbed his head as he looked at the paper in dismay.

"I don't know, but we'll have to wait until then. I'll see you in the elevator lobby, Harry. I'm about to go do some work." Astra kissed his cheek and started to walk off, but he caught her wrist. She blinked as she turned to him.

"Don't ever kiss me again. I'm serious, I don't like it." He had a sort of power radiating from him that forced Astra to nod. He let her go and she stared at him a moment longer before trotting out into the hall.

Harry walked out and noticed that on the door was a witch. He had been pulled into the ladies loo. He blushed hotly and stalked off down the hallway. Now some rumor was going to circulate that Astra and he were an item and Ginny would divorce him and leave him all alone. He shook his head and rubbed his hand over his eyes. Ginny had more faith in him than that.

At lunch, Harry went out to eat. The nearest place to eat was a muggle pub. He walked in, holding his robes over his arm like it was a coat, sitting toward the back after he ordered himself some food.

A tall and lanky man came over and placed his plate in front of him, dark hair and eyes peering at him. "Thank you," Harry said faintly as he pulled out a fork.

The man seemed to linger. Harry looked up at the man and he saw someone not much younger than he was. The boy couldn't have been more than nineteen. "Yes?"

The man shrugged and smiled faintly, walked away. Harry watched him walk away and had a sudden sense of danger. He pulled out a potion that Moody had forced him to use once and dropped a little bit on his food.

Harry pulled back sharply when a mushroom cloud of red erupted from his plate. The food on the plate had turned to ash and Harry stared at it all. That was what was supposed to happen when your food was poisoned. A literal nuclear attack on your food if it had any known poison in it.

He stood up and picked up his robes and stashed the vial in a pocket. He walked over to the bar and motioned for a burly man with a black beard over. "Yes, sir?"

"Who was the boy who served me?" Harry said in a harsher tone than he had intended.

"What boy?"

Harry grunted and walked over to the cashier. After paying for his non-existent food, he went into an alleyway, disapparating into his own yard. He stalked over the stones he had still yet to pull up from the ground and walked inside, finding Ginny at the kitchen table trying to feed Lily. She looked up when he came in. "Harry?"

"Ginny, I'm eating lunch here from now on," he said as he tossed his robes onto a chair.

"What happened? You're not fired are you?" she gasped.

Harry shook his head, rubbing his face. "I think someone tried to poison me."

She walked over and brushed her fingers over the scar on his forehead. He pulled her over to him by her hips and rubbed his forehead against her belly. "How do you know?"

"You know that vial of potion Moody gave me when I first started training under him? It worked. It blew up my food." He sighed and let her go, looking up at her. "And… Astra kissed me," he said with a slight flinch.

She smirked. "So you're going to be like Ron and tell me every little thing that you've done to disobey our marriage vows? Harry, I trust you and I trust Astra. I would trust you if I had even seen the kiss. As it is, Draco is the one that would have a fit, not me. I know you too well, and I know that Astra became a great deal craftier when she entered the Aurors."

"Something is wrong at work. I don't know what, but something is very wrong. Astra thought someone would know we were talking about what has been happening so, she pulled me into a kiss as this bloke was walking down the hallway and then pulled me into a ladies loo." Harry smirked up at Ginny, who was grinning. "What? I would have thought you'd be pissed off at me or Astra. Your grin is getting a little unnerving." He dodged a swat at his shoulder.

"It's like being back at school again. You are doing what you do best with Astra coming up behind you. Ron and Hermione can't help you as they did before, so it's only you and Astra now." She grinned a little more. "Besides, I like knowing I've got one of the most desirable men in MY clutches."

Harry kissed his wife on the mouth, brushing her cheek with his fingers. A breadroll hit his head. Lily cried, wanting to be fed. Ginny blushed at her lapse of memory and rushed over to the baby.

Harry smiled as he watched his wife and child doing a familiar feeding routine. Later that evening, he was going to break into a classified morgue with Astra's help. He shouldn't have snapped at her, but he really didn't like what she did. It made him feel disgusting, since it wasn't Ginny's lips he had been locked onto. And he never wanted to kiss anyone, but Ginny. 


	6. The Morgue

A/N: So, okay. Got that last chapter done. Hope ya'll enjoyed it. Cause here comes some espionage fun! XD Well… to and extent. .;

So, I'll be going to Houston this week and I probably won't be back for a while. I'm still not done with my hours for Driving and my great-granddad is dying. I'll get this done for ya'll to read and then it'll be asta la vista, at least for a little while.

And I probably shouldn't read Oh My Goddess before I write a story, eh? XD

Chapter Six

The sun was going down and people were heading home for the night. Two figures were waiting in a hidden broom closet while morgue workers and various other people milled about, some getting ready to go home to their families. The two figures huddled close to each other, trying to keep from being seen if someone opened the door.

"Ow! That's my foot, Harry!" hissed Astra. She rubbed a boot clad foot painfully.

Harry didn't see her glaring at him. In fact, he could only see what was showing through the crack in the door, which was pretty much people walking around. "Sorry. I can't see where anything is."

He shifted and felt around for how covered he was, when his hand landed on something very soft and squishy…

After the bright lights flashing off in his head began to subside, Harry leaned as far away from Astra as possible. "Sorry! Sorry!" he mumbled as softly as he could as he rubbed his bruised jaw.

"Watch it next time, or it'll be worse for ya," she grumbled as she, too, shifted as far away from Harry as possible. She rubbed her breast with a wince. "You could've been a bit nicer to my poor babies than that, you know."

Harry sputtered, feeling his face heat up considerably. "I didn't MEAN to touch you THERE!" he gasped.

Once again, Harry saw lights flashing in his head, though the pain came from the top of his head. "Shut up!" Astra hissed, holding onto a dustpan, "Do you WANT to get caught?"

Harry grumbled and hugged himself, glaring at the crack in the door. Harry remembered Astra and he had been fairly good friends, but, he supposed, being in such a small area, and cramped as they were, was shortening both their tempers.

The people outside the door were lessening. Astra hit a button on her watch and a whitish glow came from the face of it. Harry blinked at it, thinking it was magic until he remembered that such watches existed in the muggle world. Then, he remembered all those watches were green lighted so they didn't hurt your eyes. "What is that?" he whispered.

"A watch, dummy. Draco gave it to me," she said as the glow went away, "It's one minute until five."

"All right," said Harry, finding this promising. He shifted his weight so that he was ready to spring out of the closet. Astra pulled his sleeve until he was almost on top of her. "Ah?"

"You have on the special robes, right? Face scarf and gloves as well?"

"Yeah? Except the mask and gloves," Harry said as he tried to peer into her darkened face. She nodded and let him go. He wrapped the face scarf around his face, hiding his nose and mouth from being seen and put his gloves into his robe pockets.

Just then, someone came walking past the door. Someone in the same morgue robes as Harry and Astra were wearing came over to the man that had appeared. "Yes?"

"Personal note from upstairs, sir."

There was the sound of crinkling paper and then the morgue doctor spoke. "All right. Take me with you." Then, he walked off past the door.

Astra opened the door carefully and peered out before motioning to Harry to come along. They crept out carefully, closing the door behind them as quietly as possible before walking to a large metal door that looked like it could keep anything out. Harry grunted as he stared at it. He reached forward and tapped it, immediately jumping back as it zapped his hand. "Argh!"

"Damn it, I knew it was too easy," grumbled Astra.

"Too easy, says you. You're not the one that has a burnt hand," growled Harry.

"What sort of spells would be on this freakin' door, anyway? It can't be THAT secret a place, can it?" Astra looked to Harry, already knowing the answer. Both of them knew that, yes, it could be that secret a place. The look on Harry's face proved that point.

She sighed and rubbed her forehead with a gloved hand. Then, she looked over at Harry and then to his unclad hand. She thought for a moment and then Harry looked to his hands as well. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked.

He nodded and put on the gloves. Then, he reached for the door. There wasn't even a flash of light. The door just opened when he opened it. She grinned at him. "So, it looks like these gloves are magically enhanced things, eh?"

He smirked slightly before walking through the door, Astra right behind him. They found themselves in a large room with cold white walls surrounding them. There were silver plaques everywhere on what looked to be drawers. The entire room was cold, making Harry shiver.

"This is it?" he said softly, his breath showing as a wisp of smoke coming through his face scarf.

Astra nodded. "Apparently, these scarves are used to keep your head from losing too much heat…as well as protect your face from chemicals or whatever." She looked around, her blue-gray eyes peering at him over the white scarf. In fact, Harry noticed now that the uniform was all white. Even the gloves. "Which name is it, Harry?"

Harry looked around. "I don't know where it is. It's Sylvia Tempest."

"We had better hurry," she said shortly before walking at a fast a pace down the center of the room.

"Astra! You can't be serious! You can't read that fast!" Harry said as he walked at a slower pace to see the nameplates.

"Not normally, no, but I can recognize a name when I know how it's supposed to be spelled rather easily and quickly." She walked down to the end of the room and grinned behind her mask. "And good thing, too. She's up there, Harry."

Harry turned in time to see her pointing up at a drawer a few feet above her own height. Harry walked over and looked up at the drawer. He nodded and lifted his wand, pointing it at the drawer. "Accio Sylvia Tempest drawer."

The drawer opened and pulled all the way out, drifting down to their level and hovered oddly. Astra raised her eyebrows at Harry and he shrugged. She pulled back the sheet from Sylvia's face and both pulled back, hands over their mouths in disgust.

There wasn't much left past her nose, her rotting upper jaw showing white teeth still imbedded. Her eyes were closed, thankfully, and the damage went on under the sheet. Torn flesh and blood was all Harry could recognize. He saw bone showing in her spine and torn muscle tissue around it.

He composed himself and looked to the forehead. It was cleaned of blood and easier to read. However, he didn't want to think of what the word meant. The idea was too frightening to think of.

"Hogwarts. You don't think whoever did this to her is going there—" Astra didn't need to finish her sentence. She saw the look on Harry's face and both went even paler.

She pulled the sheet back over the mess and then sent the drawer back up to the place it came from with her wand. "Without Dumbledore there, it would be easier to attack someone," she said softly. That only brought up a too real memory for the both of them.

Dumbledore was dead, by Voldemort's hand. The new headmistress of Hogwarts was Professor McGonagall and she could only do so much. She was a powerful witch, but she really could only do so well against just one person entering Hogwarts and killing someone.

Astra stiffened. "We need to get out of here. Is there a back way out of here?"

"I don't know. Why?" asked Harry looking to her.

"Someone's coming back." She grabbed him and wrapped the scarf around his entire head. She heard the footsteps outside the door getting closer. She wrapped her own scarf around her head, trying to hide her ears and her hair as well as she could. They were both easily identifiable if someone saw them walking out without their heads covered.

She tugged Harry to the door and it opened on them. She pulled Harry back in time to avoid getting hit with the door. The tall, blonde man with his own white scarf pulled around his face looked at them in surprise. "Oh—sorry. I didn't know someone was in here working."

When Astra spoke, her voice was higher than normal; however, that was nerves rather than clever planning. "Oh—don't worry about us! We just finished our work."

The blonde man blinked at them and she pulled Harry out into the hallway. "We really must be going. Sorry to have surprised you." Then, she walked down the hallway at a slow, leisurely pace.

Harry looked to Astra, narrowing her eyes at her. She shook her head. "He'll know something is up if we run," she hissed.

"What were you two working on? I don't remember anything being brought in before." The blonde man was coming up behind them. Astra stiffened and grimaced. Harry sighed.

"Sylvia Tempest. We were doing a recheck over her—well—what's left of her—body," said Harry as calmly as possible.

The blonde man nodded. "Yes, that body was a bit of a mess. Even more so when it first arrived. It took an entire day just to get the smell of blood off of me. I found it curious that Mr. Weasley asked for the ward door to have anti-theft spells on it. Made it really difficult to work around until we made the gloves able to go through it."

Harry nodded and looked to Astra. "Who asked you to recheck the body?" asked the blonde man.

"Mr. Weasley," said Astra in the higher than usual voice.

"Ah yes… odd. He summoned me all the way upstairs and then said he hadn't even done such a thing. He gets odder day by day, that one. I used to think he was too young for the job. Maybe it's beginning to make him crack," the blonde man said idly.

Harry looked to Astra again and then she looked to her watch, pulling back a glove slightly. The blonde man blinked at her. "You're awfully pale. Maybe you should have a lie down. This job does get stressful."

She went white as a sheet and looked to Harry quickly. "We need to go," she said in a harsh tone.

Harry nodded in agreement. "Excuse us. We have to report our findings." Then, he grabbed a hold of Astra's arm and tugged her down the hallway and around the corner.

Astra could still hear the blonde man as they walked away, but it became increasingly difficult as they walked away. "Odd pair. I don't recognize them. Must be new to the job." Then, it was hard to hear what he was saying because he was too far away and there were new sounds in the area, echoing off the walls.

"So that guy personally dealt with the body. Percy told him to lock up the ward and Percy's little ruse let us get into the ward. Something is definitely wrong," said Astra as she pulled the scarf off her head and then her gloves, then she pulled off her robes and tossed them into a trashbin.

Harry pulled off his robes and tossed them into the trashbin as well, their normal robe and cloak on under the white uniform. They walked to the end of the corridor and into the lift. "Hogwarts…he's going to Hogwarts," said Harry.

"He?"

Harry nodded. "That wizard you fought off of Sylvia and me was the one that killed her, I just know it."

"He was strong…and super fast. I've never seen anything like him. Not even the deatheaters were that good," said Astra as she leaned against the back wall. "There's something different about him, whoever he is."

"Did you ever get to see his face?"

"No."

Harry sighed as the lift doors opened and they walked out. Now came the task of figuring out how to get to Hogwarts without raising suspicion. 


	7. Hogwarts, oh Hogwarts

A/N: and I'm back and am currently battling my sinuses, which are driving me insane.

hack, cough, sniffle

I've discovered a new song artist. Origa. She's very popular in Japan, but, here's the kicker, she's RUSSIAN. Lol I'm sorry, I just find that amusing.

Chapter Seven

Chanting.

A woman was chanting, invoking spirits in the presence of a man, who had hair darker than her own. Pitch black hair that was short waves around his head, partially hiding his dark eyes as he watched her.

The dark skinned woman threw a bit of the invoking powder into the fire, always chanting. She was afraid of this man. He'd brought her over from her home in the Caribbean and he was singularly frightening just to look at. He had the aura of evil around him and knew he was key to the world, even if he was going to try to destroy it, he was essential.

"Well?" he said in a deep tone that sent shivers up her spine.

She stopped chanting and looked into the fire. "No'ting. I still see no'ting. You ask me to find him for you and I see no'ting when I do find him."

"You aren't working hard enough then. Your magic isn't conventional sort of magic. Not common at all. It should be able to find one simple man." His eyes showed how truly cold he could be. For such a young man, he was even more frightening than the thought of He-who-must-not-be-named.

She drank a bit of whiskey and spat it at the fire alter that she had erected. Again, she tried to invoke any spirits that would listen, pouring a bit of offering to them over the fire.

"He must be protected from me eyes. I find no'ting," she insisted.

"Well, what a tragedy," he said calmly. She didn't have to turn to know he had stood up and was behind her already. "I suppose you're no use to me anymore."

She heard the rustle of his robes and turned to face the man who would kill her. She saw his wand and saw a flash of bright blue light, then, all she knew was pain…

"Hogwarts! You're going to sneak into Hogwarts with Astra?" Ginny looked about ready to throw something heavy. "How?! You have to get permission for that sort of thing and Mrs. Snape isn't going to let you both walk in just like that!"

Harry sighed and rubbed his head. "I know. I need your help. Everyone's help."

Ginny quieted down and gazed at her husband carefully. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shouted. It's just…I don't want you getting hurt any worse than you do at work. Going after this bloke is likely to kill someone close to all of us. I don't want that happening again."

"The idea of what he's going after and what he could do with it is even worse. We have to, Ginny." He looked up at Ginny once more and her heart ached. He smiled, pulling her into his lap. He kissed her gently on the lips and nuzzled her neck. "Can your dad or one of your brothers help?" he asked.

She grinned and Harry felt better at seeing it. "We can probably do better. Percy is the head."

He had refrained from telling Ginny about Percy. He smiled a strained smile, forcing it to look genuine. "All right. I'll see what I can get from him. I don't want to take advantage of his position, though. That wouldn't be brotherly at all."

She smiled and kissed him. "Oh, Harry. You must know that even when he's being a pain in the ass, he's always going to try his hardest to help out his family…all of his family."

He smirked. The Weasley's were like a clan. The English wizard mafia. Hurt any one of them and the entire family was on you. If one needed help, then the entire family would bend over backwards to help them. This revelation also brought to Harry's mind an image of the Weasley's dressed in kilts and furs and painted blue as they charged down a hill screaming with weapons raised over their heads. It even brought to mind an image of Mr. Weasley dressed as the Godfather and trying to speak with cotton-balls in his mouth.

He grinned and slipped Ginny off his lap to answer the call of his screaming baby. Lily called for daddy.

Astra looked out the window of the Malfoy Estate that Mr. Malfoy had given them as a wedding present. In reality, Astra despised the man with all the hatred and fury of hell, but she would be damned if she would keep his own grandson away from him. She wasn't cruel.

It was surprising that Mrs. Malfoy had even taken a bit of a shine to her. It was probably because her "ickle Dracokins" was "finally becoming a man", even if it was with a mudblood. The really funny thought was that Astra's family, the human side, was fairly pure blood, having wizards and witches in a row for several generations. However, it was only when her dad married her mother that that tradition was broken.

It was also probably the prospect of Mrs. Malfoy getting to be a grandmother that made her so happy to pay for the wedding and the wedding dress. Astra remembered the day in the wedding dress shop and hated the dresses that Mrs. Malfoy came up with. They were all too poofy and lacy for her taste.

Kevin squirmed slightly in her arms and she let up a bit in holding him. She had a tendency to hold him too tightly and had to remember that she was a great deal stronger than a little baby. Kevin leaned back his head and looked at his mother brightly; bright blue eyes cheerfully gazing at her and reddish hair on his head looking much like fuzz on a peach. She gently touched his pointed ears and grinned. He'd end up looking like an elfish Weasley when he grew up a bit more. Then, he would get his mother's appearance.

"Showing Kevin the world?" said Draco as he walked into the nursery behind her. He wrapped his arms around Astra's waist and gently pressed the front of his body up against her back. He grinned when she shivered slightly.

"Why do you do that? Even when I'm just holding Kevin and looking out a window, you prove yourself to be a horny goat," she grunted indignantly.

He laughed. "Yes, well, I would think that finding you positively delicious after you've born my child and been playing auror for a while was a good thing." He licked the tip of her ear and she shivered again.

"Stop it, Draco. I'll drop Kevin if you're not careful," she said in a bit of a higher voice than she had intended.

He grinned even wider and let go. He really did enjoy playing with her like that. He knew she liked it, even if she wouldn't admit it. He kissed his little boy on the forehead and brushed his reddish hair back.

"Are you certain you had nothing going on with Fred?" he said with a devious sort of tone in his voice as he looked to Astra.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh shut up. He's a ghost, remember? He wouldn't be able to touch anything even if he wanted to."

They were silent for a moment, looking at each other until Astra blushed and stroked their son's cheek. Once again, Draco won just by giving her one of his famous devious grins.

"Father said it has been arranged," he whispered into her ear as he kissed her cheek. "You and Harry both will be able to go to Hogwarts as substitute professors until you are finished there."

Her ears went red and he ran a cool finger over the edge, making her shiver once again. "Thank you, Draco. We can't get Percy to help us, but we can keep your father from landing his ass in Azkaban if he stays a good boy." She grinned at him impishly.

Silvery eyes gazed into her own with a sort of intensity that made her gasp slightly. "My father is trying to be as good a grandfather as he can be. He doesn't want to miss any time with his grandson as he can help."

She blushed even more, her cheeks turning red now and she looked to Kevin silently. "Sorry," she mumbled.

Kevin was falling asleep now in her arms and she gently placed him in his crib. She started the watch monitor with her wand and looked out the window. Draco came up behind her once again and wrapped his arms around her. "You've been away entirely too long, Astra," he said hotly into her neck.

Her eyes rolled back into her head as she leaned against him for support. He lifted her up into his arms, nuzzling her neck as he took her to their bedroom for the night.

At Platform 9 ¾, Harry watched as the empty red train slowed to a stop in front of him. It was only him and a couple of students transferring from another school that were on the platform. He had never seen this place so empty before. It was almost unnerving.

He spotted Astra walking over with a trolley holding probably everything she owned. He suddenly wished Ginny could be here to see him off, holding Lily for one last time before boarding the train. It sent a shot of pain through his heart to not be able to do such a thing.

Astra smiled at Harry, her black velvet cloak on around her shoulders with the stylized "A" "M" in silver on her breast. Her hair was pulled up into a pair of buns low in the back of her head like curled up pigtails.

"You're a bit late, you know," he said with a grin.

She blushed hotly and glared at him. "As if you wouldn't stay in bed with Ginny for a while before coming here," she grunted.

He grinned even more. "Oh, was that what has caused you to be late?"

"Shut up." Her lips thinned and she shoved her trunk onto the train.

On the train, they sat opposite of each other. The scenery passed by outside the window while silence descended on them. "The answer is yes."

Astra blinked up at Harry. He hadn't spoken since getting onto the train. "Yes, wha?"

"I stayed in bed with Ginny saying my goodbyes," he said with a slight wistful grin. He looked out the window, coughing into his hand in an embarrassed manner.

She blushed just as much as he did as she looked out the window. "It… pretty much happened last night. This morning was recovery."

Harry fell off his seat. "What?!"

She snapped her head around to look at him, gasping as he got to his feet. He sputtered for a couple of minutes before readjusting his tie, which he had opted for instead of his usual T-shirt. He still wore jeans and sneakers, however.

"A bit of a marathoner," she said with a slight grin.

"Apparently."

"How was Ginny when you told her what we needed to do?"

Harry looked to Astra and grinned. "Fiery. She looked like she could melt the walls." He sighed and rubbed his head. "But she understood after the initial shock settled off of her."

"Almost the same with Draco, only he has a tendency to take after his dad now and get very quiet when he's angry. It's a bit scary," said Astra with a faint smile.

"Mr. Malfoy was the one that arranged this then?"

She nodded. "Ever since you killed Voldemort and the Deatheaters were being pulled out by the Ministry, he's been on his best behavior so he can stay out of prison."

"You helped, you know. I'd never have been able to kill him if you didn't have that necklace." Harry pointed to the triangular knot at her throat and she covered it up with her cloak.

"Let's not give me credit for it. It worked on its own. It could have been Ginny or Hermione that took the necklace, not me. I was just lucky."

Harry grunted and glared slightly at Astra. She was taking his usual sullen position and forcing him to take her more optimistic view. "Now see here, Astra. You were supposed to come to Hogwarts just like you were supposed to help me, just like I was supposed to be the one that killed the Dark Tosser."

She giggled faintly and looked to him grinning. "The Dark Tosser?"

"I heard Ron saying it not long ago and felt it was appropriate," he grinned.

Silence once again fell over the compartment. This was going to be a very boring ride if someone didn't think of something to talk about that wouldn't cause them to both blush and go quiet again.

One of the children that was at the platform opened the door and looked in. "Oh—er—sorry—um—have either of you seen my cat?"

They shook their heads in unison. The girl couldn't have been much older than third or fourth year. She had short brown hair and big brown eyes. "Are you two going to be professors?"

"Why, yes, we are," said Astra with a grin.

"My name is Amelia Heart. I'll be going into fourth year, at least that's what my letter from the headmistress said. My family decided to move me from Durmstrang into Hogwarts because it would be closer to home." The girl walked all the way in and sat down next to Astra. "What are your names?"

"I'm Mrs. Astra Malfoy. I'll be teaching History of Magic." She winked at Harry and grinned broadly. "Headmistress Snape felt that Professor Binns ought to have some time off to be a ghost."

"Malfoy? I've heard of them! I heard they're a mean lot, though. You aren't mean are you?" The girl genuinely looked frightened at the thought of Astra angry with her, and, even Harry had to admit, that it was an accurate fear.

"No, of course not," Astra said with a grin.

Amelia looked over to Harry and he squirmed slightly in his seat. It was exactly like being a student once again, being stared at by children in awe of something he barely remembered. "I know you! You're Harry Potter! What are you going to teach? Defence Against the Dark Arts?"

Harry pulled out the envelope with the note in it from Mrs. Snape. He grunted. It was exactly what he was going to teach. "Yes."

The girl giggled and got off the seat. "It was nice meeting you two. I have to go find my kitty now. Thank you!" Then, she ran out.

Astra grinned at Harry. "You still get uncomfortable, don't you?"

Harry blushed and glared at Astra.

"Shut up." 


	8. Insanity in the Great Hall

A/N: Blah, I've been busy with other crap, so forgive the late update. '

I've got a comic I'm doing called Legend of Armis, so I've been majorly busy with that, which is why I WRITE this instead of drawing it out… like I used to do. . is updated however.

Chapter Eight

Hogwarts looked the same as it did when Harry had been there last. It was odd to him being back, even if it'd only been a few years. However, it still felt like home. He looked up at it as it approached, the little girl Amelia Heart sitting across from Astra and him.

Astra stared out her own window as they approached. She fingered the Aeternus at her neck in though. Had it only been a few years? She had a son now and the Aeternus didn't do anything other than look nice on her now. Back when she was at this school, the thing radiated power like nothing she could describe. Now, it was supposedly protecting her from harmful magic.

Inside was no different than outside. However, there was no one they recognized save from the teachers patrolling the hallways. No Percy telling off some second year, no Fred and George wreaking havoc, none of the people Harry grew up with at this school were there except some of the teachers.

Professor McGonagall, or now she was known as Headmistress Snape, walked up to them. She gave a smile to Astra and Harry and then nodded to Amelia. "Come with me child. Dinner is being served. Once I put you into a house, you will join your table." Then, she looked to Harry and Astra. "You two follow me. I'll deal with you two after the child."

Amelia looked resentful at being called a child, but she didn't say anything. Instead, they all followed after Headmistress Snape.

Since Dumbledore had died, there had been a scramble for a new headmaster of Hogwarts. Astra's old headmistress, Miss White, from Firestrom, had declined the offer of taking over Hogwarts, so that left Hogwarts under Mrs. Snape's rule until the Ministry finally decided to make her Headmistress, though they said she seemed too young for the job.

However, she was a great deal older than she appeared.

It was due to the freak accident of the Soul Reaver's Light stone and the Raven's Eye stone resonating at the same frequency that changed Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, Professor Lupin, Professor Trelawny, Professor Dumbledore and Sirius into teenagers, however it was the same accident that aged all, except Dumbledore, to being in their twenties. Dumbledore, somehow, managed to end up aging back to what he looked like originally.

Shortly after that, Professor Snape and McGonagall could be seen together a great deal. After Harry's seventh year, they got married and now they both taught at Hogwarts.

They ascended the winding staircase behind the gargoyle into the Headmaster office. Headmistress Snape took the hat off her desk and placed it on Amelia's head. Amelia blinked and tried to take it off, but the hat suddenly shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" Headmistress Snape took the hat off of Amelia's head and placed it back onto its shelf.

"Good, now… go to the great hall and join your housemates for your meal. Ask the house prefects about the rules and the like. Now run along," she said.

Amelia nodded and trotted out, leaving Astra and Harry alone with Headmistress Snape.

"Now, I want to speak to you both about what you will be doing here," Mrs. Snape said as she sat down.

"We're here undercover, Mrs. Snape," said Astra in her usual manner; completely straight forward.

Mrs. Snape nodded. "Yes, I know. Your husband sent me a letter and your father-in-law sent me the letter for your qualifications for substitute teaching. It's all very concise and in order."

"However," said Harry, feeling it was going to be said sooner or later.

"However, we must get one thing straight. Please TRY to keep the school in one piece. We had a hard enough time with your seventh year recuperation and I don't want to have to deal with that again."

Astra smirked and looked to Harry. He sighed. "Yes, Professor."

The great hall was crowded with children and teenagers. You could hear all the conversations all at once, or at least, Astra could. One good thing about her hearing was she could hear everything within a certainly wide area around her. However, the problem was, she could hear everything within a certainly wide area.

She covered her ears and grumbled. "More boiled cabbage and meat pies, I suppose. I honestly don't know why you Brits like this food so much!"

Harry was in the middle of eating a bit of his meat pie and gave a weak smile. "It's food. Don't ask about it, just eat it."

"God what I wouldn't give for some Chinese take-out right now," she grumbled again. The noise level was causing her to have a headache. She hadn't been around this much noise since she had been a student here. She needed to get used to it again.

Professor Snape was sitting next to Mrs. Snape, looking about as surly as Astra seemed. "I concur, it is entirely too loud in here, Miss Knight," he said in his usual sour tone.

Astra gave him a tired glance. "It's Mrs. Malfoy, nitwit."

"Severus, please…. Stop harassing the substitutes," said Mrs. Snape as she patted his hand. He blushed faintly and went back to scowling at his food.

Harry sighed and looked to Astra from the side. Astra looked around him to Sirius munching on his food while talking to one of the newer female teachers. Harry looked over and grinned. "Sirius!"

Sirius looked over and grinned back, waving an arm at them. "Oi! I never thought I'd see the likes o'you two again! What's brought you two back to hell, eh?"

"I'd hardly call it hell," said Astra with a smirk.

"I'd hardly call it heaven unless you count the new women teachers here," he grinned and waggled his eyebrows. Astra laughed and Harry grinned.

"So how is married life treating you both?" he asked.

Harry blushed and looked at his plate, Astra's ears went a distinct red and she too looked elsewhere. "That good, eh?" he grinned and Astra through a fork at him. He had to dodge backward, falling on the floor. When he resurfaced, the fork was still quivering, imbedded in the table. "Seems I hit a nerve," he grinned.

Everyone was watching the teacher's table now, especially Astra, with a great deal of fear and interest. Astra blushed and seemed to sink into her chair. "Eh heh… ah.,. nothing to see here."

"You seem to somehow manage to draw attention to yourself, Astra," said a familiar voice. Harry turned as Astra did to see a woman with long black hair and her once tanned skin was deathly pale, but he could never mistake those eyes. Black on black eyes stared at them both and sent a shiver down Harry's spine.

Astra giggled and flew over to the woman, hugging her in a bear hug. "Avalon! What's going on? I haven't seen you since I went back to America! Did you start teaching here? Have you gotten married to Kennedy yet?"

Avalon smiled faintly and gently shoved her sister back, Astra blinking at her in curiousity. "I am still a Knight."

"The dark knight and the white knight together again," grinned Sirius as he stood up.

Astra poked and prodded Avalon, grinning. Indeed there was something a bit bigger on Avalon now. "Hey! You grew! You have breasts now! And look! HIPS!"

Avalon growled and Astra dodged a swing from her sister, laughing her head off. Once again, the whole of Hogwarts was watching the pair instead of paying attention to their dinner.

Astra hugged her sister again and giggled. "I missed you."

Harry stood up and walked over, putting a hand out to Avalon. "It's good to see you, V."

Avalon looked to Harry and somehow, those black almost emotionless eyes seemed saddened as she looked at him. She nodded to him, not coming anywhere near contact to him. Harry blinked. He knew she could see the future and the past all at once, but had he forgotten something else about her powers?

"You know the rules, Potter. No contact with me. Ever," Avalon said.

"Harry, remember, Avalon's powers are maginified when someone touches her. You don't want to turn her into a gibbering idiot in the middle of the great hall, do you?" said Astra.

"I think it's a bit too late to not draw attention to you!" called Sirius. He dodged a shoe being thrown at him as he laughed.

Mrs. Snape stood up and crossed her arms in front of her. "Stop this insanity this instant!"

Like a the arm of a record player being pulled up suddenly, everything and everyone stopped what they were doing and looked to Mrs. Snape with fear. She smiled blithely and clapped her hands once. "Everyone, to your seats and finish this meal without another problem. Is that clear?"

In an instant, everyone was back to what they had been doing prior to causing the chaos. Astra giggled as she looked over to Harry and grinned. "Welcome back to Hogwarts, Professor Potter," she said.

Harry chuckled and went back to eating.

The hooded figure of a man stood before his witch for hire. "S-sir! Please! I… I did what you asked me to!"

"You didn't do enough, woman," he growled. He pulled out his wand and grinned at her. "I will not have failure in my ranks."

"You won't have anything else if you don't stop this!" she cried in a last ditch effort to dissuade him from harming her.

"And just what can you guarantee to me that I won't have those two aurors on my case when they find me?"

She looked around desperately. She found her old book of potions and sighed as she found something useful. "You… you disguise yourself… a-as someone they wouldn't expect you to disguise yourself as!"

He chuckled. "Really. How interesting. Polly Juice potion, then?"

"Er… ah… yes."

He grinned in a sick manner and pointed his wand at her. "Thank you for the suggestion, but… I have my own disguise." He was right in front of her in an instant. She could feel his breath on her ear. What she heard caused a shiver to go up her spine. "They do not know who the MASTER is."

Then, she screamed as a flash of green light hit her. 


	9. The Four Founders

A/N: Welcome to another chapter! XD Hope ya'll enjoy!

If you don't the pairings in this segment and feel the need to flame me for it, by all means go ahead. I need some form of entertainment to fill my day.

Chapter Nine

The class was silent as they waited for their teacher to show up. Never before had Professor Binns been late. He always came in through the wall and droned on for hours on end, not really having a clue that the entire class was asleep. To the students, it was naptime. However, a few remembered there was a new teacher taking over for Professor Binns.

"Where is she?"

"Who?"

"She?"

"The new teacher dumbass."

"Oh, it's not professor Binns?"

"No, it's a woman, and she's supposed to be huge!"

The door slammed open and in walked a very tall and very pale woman that looked as frightening as an Amazon Warrior. She slammed her books down and started writing on the board quickly. When she turned around, she put her hands on her ample hips and grinned at the class, pushing her small glasses up her nose. "OKAY! Right now, I suppose you're tryin' ta remember who the hell I am, but this is my first class of the day so listen up! My name is Mrs. Astra Malfoy. Any questions?"

"Where are you from? You don't sound like you're from England," said one boy as he stood up.

She rolled her eyes. "Very well spotted, Mr….. Porter. I'm not from here, I'm from Texas, which is in the southern part of America. There we have a healthy tradition of both Quidditch and Quadpot." A vein seemed to suddenly throb in her head as she thought of Quadpot.

Another boy stood up with his hand raised. "What's Quadpot?"

"Quadpot is a stupid game that was invented by an idiot who thought exploding balls were fun to play around with. Basically, you ride on a broom and try to dunk the ball into a cauldron before it explodes in your face." The vein seemed to grow more prominent as she spoke of the game.

"You said you're a Malfoy, weren't the Malfoys acquitted of crimes against the Ministry and Hogwarts because of a legal dispute?" said one girl with long brown hair.

"Eh heh… Actually, I married DRACO Malfoy, not his father, who is the one you are talking about. However, I promised my husband that I wouldn't speak ill of his father, so I'm not dignifying that question with further comment. Anything else?"

"When is Professor Binns coming back?" said a tall Gryffindor boy with blonde hair.

"At the end of the year. He's on vacation," she said shortly. When she saw the class had quieted down enough, she turned to the board and started writing. "Now… I want ya'll to tell me where you are in this class, because appearently, Professor Binns doesn't leave tangible notes."

"We were on the founders ma'am," said one girl.

"The founders? You would have learned about that in first year, I'm surprised. Then, again, that may be just my school talking." She shrugged and put her wand to her lips in thought. "If that's the case, tell me what part of the story of the founders are you on? The Chamber of Secrets when everything started to fall apart?"

They nodded as one and she nodded. "I'm going to do something different, the way my History of Magic teacher did it. She would want me to continue this way of teaching," she mumbled.

She straightened and smiled, holding her wand up. "I want everyone to stay in their seats and not to move except to take notes. If you move outside of the white circle, you'll be stranded in a place you don't want to be stranded in and I would have to retrieve you." She grinned at them in an eerie fashion and coughed. "And if I have to retrieve you, severe punishments will be doled out; including anything my sick little mind can come up with."

The students seemed to straighten at that and she grinned. She closed her eyes and summoned a protective circle around the classroom desks. She furrowed her eyebrows in concentration as she let her mind remember the time casting that Miss White would do. She had been in her Time class only a year before going to Hogwarts and had only ever done lessons when she had the time, which was hardly ever.

The room seemed to grow hot and bright as the students looked at their teacher. Something was glowing on her chest, bright like freshly polished silver. It transfixed them as their surroundings changed. Astra smiled as she opened her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief.

They were in front of a castle that looked a lot like Hogwarts, but it was still being built. The scene changed and they were inside a chamber that looked a bit like Madam Snape's office. The Headmaster's office was similar, but furnished with newer things and somehow it looked bigger to accommodate the class.

There was a man with red hair writing on a piece of parchment. His voice could be clearly heard, almost resounding through the chamber. "I try hard, Rowena, very hard, to do what I must to help keep this school going, but Salazar keeps interfering with his own deluded ideas of what a school should be." He put the quill into the inkpot and looked to the other side of the room.

As though they just appeared there, a short but pretty blonde woman nodded at the red haired man. A dark haired, taller, woman fingered her staff as she thought. "We all have our own ideas of what should be in this school, Godric. You want only the brave and curagous, I want the intelligent lot, Helga… well… Helga likes everyone, so I don't think she really should count."

Helga shot Rowena Ravenclaw a sharp look. "I'll have you know… anyone who is willing to learn should be brought in. No exceptions. I don't think it's fair to just have one or the other. Everyone has their strengths and I think everyone should play to their strengths."

Rowena smiled blithely at Helga and Helga seemed further infuriated. Godric chuckled. "Point taken—the both of you. The problem isn't with us, it's with Salazar. He's been increasingly secretive and demanding. I had thought he picked his students out himself, but apparently one of them didn't tell him what was the truth just so she could be his student. Did you know he actually tortured one of his own students and kicked her out of his class just because her mother was a muggle. It's deplorable and I for one won't stand for such behavior. If you'll agree with me, I can make it so he can't do such a thing without us knowing about it."

"If he leaves, our school will be diminished to the power of three, not four, Godric. We have to stick together," said Rowena in that strangely calm tone she had.

Godric grunted and stood, taking off his hand and tossing it onto his desk. "I've had it. We are going to make it so he can't choose his students so horrendously."

He looked around and picked up his staff, tapping his hat with it. He spoke some strange spell that wasn't even in English and glared at Rowena and Helga. "We will put our hearts into this hat. When we are gone and this school is finished, this hat will make sure that students are put into each house fairly. My house, Rowena's house, Helga, Salazar's… it doesn't matter. Those that belong will belong despite what slimy old Salazar thinks of this school. It WILL NOT fail. This school will go down fighting before it will die."

Helga nodded, wiping a tear from her eye and smiling, putting her staff to the hat. The hat glowed brilliantly, turning yellow as something of a ghost came from her and went right into the hat. She stepped away, blinking at what had happened. "Oh my… what have I done?"

"You put your heart and soul into the hat. Don't worry," Godric chuckled, "Not literally, just…. A copy of yourself. We need your wonderful heart in this place. I fear without it, we would all be at each other's throats."

Rowena stood stiffly and walked over with her staff. "And what of me? I will not let this go on if it's for your own amusement."

"Rowena, please… do like Helga… I will go after you and then we will track down Salazar. We will have to pull him out of his beloved dungeon kicking and screaming, but we have to do it." Godric nodded to Rowena and she nodded, putting her staff to the hat. It glowed a bright blue and a blue version of herself was sucked into the hat. Then, just as her copy disappeared into the hat, it glowed bright red and Godric's smiling face disappeared into the hat, leaving Godric standing with the same smile. "Thank you, ladies. Now… Rowena, I'll need you to find Salazar. You seem to be the only one able to talk to him nowadays."

Rowena nodded and bobbed slightly before walking out down the stairs. Helga looked to Godric and frowned. "Godric, I don't like the way he's been acting either, but… Rowena is right about needing to stay together at all costs."

Godric stood and walked over to Helga. He brushed his knuckles against her pink cheek and smiled at her. "Don't you worry on it Helga. This hat will make certain that we stay together, even if WE do not." He leaned down and kissed her cheek, grinning stupidly when he stood back up.

The room seemed to dissolve and become a darkened chamber underground. A tall, thin man with long black hair pulled back at the nape of his neck gazed at his masterpiece. Snakes everywhere and one large one with glowing emerald eyes gazed at him. He heard a strange scuffling and charged from the room quickly with long sure strides. He appeared topside, opening the door to his bedroom with a grunt. The classroom seemed to follow him as though they were on a sort of ride. There, standing in front of the door with big black eyes looking up at Salazar was Rowena and he frowned at her, letting her in. "Have a seat, Rowena," he stated stiffly as he let her in.

She shook her head, looking back at him over her shoulder. She looked nervous. She always seemed to be that way around him, it almost irritated him. "What do you need, madam?" he said as he closed the door.

Astra looked to the students, grinning. They were captured by the entirety of the situation. It was playing like a best selling movie and she knew she had a hand in helping to further their understanding of how this school was brought about. She directed her gaze to Rowena and saw something of Minerva McGonagall and Hermione in that woman, and in Salazar, a more handsome Snape combined with what she had seen of the tragic and evil Lord Voldemort. He looked like he'd handled swords and used them, muscle showing through the robes he wore, but it was a wiry body he had, not a broad stocky body like Godric's that looked like he was a knight in shining armor before. Godric always reminded her of one of the Weasley's, giving her a good feeling through her body when she saw that broad handsome face in the portrait in the Great Hall. Helga never reminded her of anyone, however, except Helga Hufflepuff, a sweet and generous woman who would do anything to please people.

Salazar walked closer to Rowena and braced his hands on the arms of the chair she sat in. His blue eyes were startling in their cold intensity. They seemed to stand out incredibly from his pale complexion. "Rowena, dear," he said smoothly as he used a long finger to tip her face up towards his, "What troubles you so that you come to ME for help?"

"We need you in Godric's office, Salazar," she said in a small voice. As powerful a witch as she was, she seemed to become malleable in his presense.

"Why?" he said in that same insufferably smooth tone.

"Because he asked, that is why, Salazar." Her tone was tight, trying to keep him from invading her mind like he had a tendency to.

"My dear, the only way you will have me up there is if you tell me why. Now why is it you came, Rowena?" He drew closer to her and she shifted back, trembling.

The class made a collective gasp at her movement, as though readying themselves for an attack. Salazar pulled away and strode over to his fireplace, head bowed. Rowena Ravenclaw stood and stared at Salazar Slytherin's back. "Have I told you how much it means to me that you have not disagreed with me as Hufflepuff and Gryffindor have?"

"N-no," Rowena said, trying to collect herself again.

Salazar turned and looked to Rowena with a frown, his blue eyes looking guarded. "Thank… Thank you," he said, his voice becoming uneven suddenly.

Rowena's posture straightened. Salazar walked over to her and drew her into his arms, kissing her harshly, holding her head as she made small plaintive noises. When he pulled back, he was panting and smiling at her in a cold fashion. "Thank you."

"You… you're welcome, Salazar," Rowena said in a small voice. She took his hand and looked away. "Come, please come with me, Salazar."

Salazar sighed and followed her out of his house and into the halls of the castle itself, heading for Gryffindor's area. His entire posture was guarded and wary, ready to bolt if he had to. When they walked up the stairs, he looked around the area with disdain.

Helga and Godric were on either side of the door, grabbing one of his shoulders and hauling him over to the hat. Godric forced Salazar's staff onto the hat and it glowed a brilliant emerald green, his copy of himself going into the hat. After that, Godric and Helga let go of him and he stepped back, glaring at them all, even Rowena. "Betrayer!" he snarled at Rowena.

"Who is a betrayer, Salazar? You used to do this sort of thing willingly, now we have to force you to come and perform magic with us," said Godric with a scowl. Rowena seemed to tremble as she backed further into a corner. "If anyone is a betrayer, it is you, Salazar, causing grief where there should be none. You play the hearts of people to your own tune like some musical instrument and then discard them without a care as to how they feel. WELL I WON'T STAND FOR IT! You will obey the laws we set down for each other whether you want to or not."

"This isn't what we had originally planned out, Godric," said Salazar with a sneer.

"No, it isn't. Originally, we were all friends. Now, you slithered your way through, pushing this and prodding that so that it went to your standards. Where I wouldn't want to argue, you pushed it to an argument where I won't stand for it from you any longer. I have asked repeatedly why you have sequestered yourself in the dungeons, but you never answer. I want to know now what you have down there." Godric crossed his arms in front of his broad chest and scowled at Salazar. The class seemed to hold its breath waiting for the response.

Salazar glared at them, then looked over at Rowena. "I have often wondered about the strange sensation you spring in my heart, Rowena. Now, I guess we'll never know, will we." He smirked devilishly at Godric. "Fine…you want to know what is down there? Go down there and see for yourself. However, only my own true heir can open it, if not me. SEE YOU IN HELL, GODRIC GRYFFINDOR!"

There was a crack and Salazar Slytherin disappeared. The class yelped in surprise and watched as Godric Gryffindor sat down in his chair with a heavy sigh. "I shouldn't have been so hard."

"You did what you thought was right. Come on, Rowena, we should go see to the students." Helga Hufflepuff took Rowena Ravenclaw by the elbow and ushered the taller woman out of Godric's office.

The classroom came back into focus and Astra sat down on her desk with a sigh. She was tired from the exertion of performing the spell. The bell rang and she smiled faintly. "All right… I want a report on what you saw happen in your own words. I want details and what you think of what happened as well as what you think of my doing this for you. You're dismissed."

The class filtered out, chattering excitedly. It was hard to do the spell, harder than she thought, but whatever helped her boost the protection spell, it was worth it. She grinned broadly and chuckled, leaning back in her chair with her hands behind her head. "I think I could get used to this teacher thing," she said with a grin. Then, she stood up and stretched, heading out for lunch. 


	10. The Demented Class

A/N: can you people tell me where I can find Hand in Hand and I Can't Stop Raving by Dune? Those are really cool song.

Anyway, so I noticed no one responded to the last chapter. Do I have to hurt ya'll now? -.-

Chapter Ten

Harry waited in his classroom, watching as students filtered in, all of them about third years. He apparently had the Gryffindor class that day. One of the girls was eyeing him carefully. He blushed faintly and pushed the fringe in front of his scar, getting very self conscious from the now several students staring at him.

He stood up and walked around the front of his desk, sitting on it. "As you probably have already figured out, my name is Professor Harry Potter. I would appreciate it if you didn't stare at me like I was a part of the circus." A few of the students blushed and looked away. "Now, you may call me Professor Potter or Mr. Potter, if you wish."

"I've been reviewing the notes of the teacher that left, a Mr. Licht. Well, he seems to think everyone in this class is hopeless and could stand to be flogged. I however, don't think so. If you give me reason to think so, I may just carry out that order." He smiled as the students straightened uncomfortably.

He picked up a book off his desk and opened it. "He says you lot left off at boggarts." He grinned; glad to finally have something easy to teach. He remembered Remus' teachings well and took out his wand. "Well, I think I can drum up a boggart easily enough. There's usually one in the teacher's lounge. Come with me." Then, he stood up and started for the door.

The students looked as though he was daft. Without looking over his shoulder at them, he said, "I did say follow me, didn't I?"

There was a scuffle as the children got out of their seats and went after him. He grinned to himself as he felt a sudden surge of power at having their attention. He wondered if this is how Remus felt when Harry was only a third year and wanting to learn everything he could from the werewolf.

They reached the teacher's lounge and Professor Stark was in there, sipping tea and talking to her husband, the red haired Kennedy Stark. Harry blinked. He hadn't seen Kennedy since his own wedding. However, Avalon looked up at him and Kennedy looked to him with a tired smile. Harry frowned. Kennedy was never tired. He was as clueless as a doorknob, but he was never tired.

"Professor Stark. I'm sorry to intrude. We're here to—"

Avalon gazed at him for a moment with those black emotionless eyes. She stood and took Kennedy's hand and started for the door, wiping her hand over her eyes as she passed. Harry frowned at the motion. He'd never seen Avalon crying when he had come in.

"Professor Potter, sir, what are we doing in the teachers' lounge?" asked one of the boys.

There was a wardrobe shaking in the corner. He walked over to it and grinned. "We're going to deal with a Boggart."

He raised his wand and made a motion. "Boggarts thrive on scaring humans, on their fear, so they become what you fear most. So, to combat that fear, you need to imagine what you fear most and then change it so it will no longer be scary, but funny while saying this spell: ridikulus. Everyone say it with me."

"Ridikulus!" the class said enthusiastically.

He smiled broadly at them and looked to the door of the Teachers' Lounge. He would have to ask Avalon what was wrong later, he thought. "Good. Now, when you say that, make sure what you turn the boggart into will be funny so you will laugh at it. Laughter makes it lose its power on you and it will move onto the next person."

He walked to the wardrobe and grinned over his shoulder at the students. "Ready? First up!" Then, he opened the door and out came a giant Venus Flytrap with vines flailing about. He looked over his shoulder to see a girl with blonde hair, staring at it as though transfixed.

"Ri… Ridikulus!" she squeaked and the Venus flytrap gained a top hat and a can and started dancing and singing. She started giggling and then backed away. He had never seen anyone get that sort of boggart change before and it almost startled him. He wondered where she might have seen such a thing for her to be afraid of it as he watched a boy with black hair come forward.

The Boggart wavered a second before changing into a giant Jack in the box. The Jack in the box wasn't so much frightening as disconcerting. Something about that face popping out of nowhere was rather creepy. At least it changed into a broken jack in the box when the boy started laughing at it after he did his spell.

The wavering boggart walked around in a dazed and confused manner and rounded on him. His eyes widened in horror as he realized what was going to happen if he didn't some how make the situation stop. He felt a chill and heard the scream of the children as a dementor appeared before them. No, it was a different sort of scream. It was feminine and screaming his name.

"PROFESSOR!" cried one of the girls.

He hadn't dealt with a dementor in so long, he'd almost forgotten how. Before he could black out, he shoved all of his energy into his wand. "Expecto Patronum!" he called out into the black.

There was a scream and his eyes focused on one of the girls. He ran at her as he directed the fake dementor away with the stag patronus. When it was a safe distance, to what he could tell, he called back his patronus and shouted. "RIDIKULUS!" The Dementor suddenly appeared in a ballet tutu and started doing a dance.

He sighed as he patted the poor frightened girl on the head and kicked the dementor on the rear back into the wardrobe. "Get back in there!" he grunted. He slammed the door shut and locked it, leaning on it as he let out a sigh of relief.

"Is… is that what you are afraid of, Professor?" asked one of the boys, looking at him oddly.

Harry nodded, though reluctantly, and stood up again. "Have been ever since I saw one in my own third year. My defence against the dark arts teacher at the time said it was a good thing because it meant I was afraid of fear itself."

The class stared at him silently as he got a hold of himself. Wiping his forehead, he gave a weak smile at the class. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Is everyone all right?"

"Professor! Anne's fainted!" cried one of the taller boys, his brown hair getting in his face as he bent down to pick up a red haired girl.

Harry was at her side in an instant. "I doubt it's the boggart that did this. Does anyone know this girl, her friend perhaps?"

The blonde haired girl that had a fear of giant Venus Flytraps came over quickly. "I'll take her to the nurse," she said quickly and helped the girl up onto her feet and walked off.

Harry frowned, watching the two girls walk off quietly. "Class, I want you to read the chapter on boggarts in your school book. Leave when class is over. I'll be back in a little while." Then, he followed the two girls out, picking up the little red haired girl Anne.

Anne squeaked and wrapped her arms around Harry's neck as she looked around at her suddenly above ground surroundings. "Don't worry, I'll get you to the hospital wing more quickly than if you walk."

The blonde haired girl blushed. Harry tried to remember their names from the role call sheet, but he couldn't bring them up. 'What are your names?"

"Jennifer Moon and that's Anne Cobble," said Jennifer Moon.

Anne looked about ready to faint again. Harry hefted her up again, trying to get a better hold on her. "Do you know what caused you to faint, Miss Cobble?"

She blushed. "I… saw my granddad…die.. in my head."

Harry frowned. "So it was the fake dememntor?"

She blinked. Jennifer answered for her though. "We haven't read anything on dementors yet, sir. Well, I have, but everyone else hasn't."

Harry nodded. "Yes, I suppose that would be a bit more advanced than what you lot are used to. Look, I don't have any chocolate on hand, but I'm certain Madame Pomfrey does. She'll take care of you both, make sure you two are all right and not hurt or anything."

Anne blushed crimson as Harry put her down on a bed. "Th-thank you.. Mr. Potter."

Harry chuckled. "It's all right. It's my duty as your teacher to take care of you, right?" The girl was acting like Ginny did when she was around him. It was almost comical, to say the least. Madame Pomfrey came out and looked at him quizzically.

"Boggart… me.. fake dementor," he said as he sat down in a chair.

Madame Pomfrey looked like she could kill him. He almost leapt out his chair when she stomped over to him and put that weathered old face in his. "You should know better, you great oaf, than to do that same lesson with YOU as the teacher! Think of what might have happened if you hadn't stopped the preceedings as I know you did!"

He was suddenly reminded very much of Mrs. Weasley with her ire directed at him. "Er—s-sorry, Madame Pomfrey," he squeaked.

Madame Pomfrey grunted and pulled out a bar of chocolate, giving it to the two girls and then shoved a great block into his mouth. "Now eat!" she growled before sitting back to watch him. The girls were giggling at him and he suddenly felt very much like a third year all over again.

When he finished the chocolate bar, Madame Pomfrey seemed satisfied enough that she went over to Anne Cobble and started checking her. "You're all right, dearie. Just don't let that idiot try to teach that lesson by himself ever again," she said with a grunt and then walked to the back of the room into her office.

Anne blushed as she looked at Harry and then looked quickly at her lap. Again, he was reminded of Ginny and a sudden longing for his wife swept over him. He smiled, feeling better, and stood up, stretching. "I hope you two are feeling better. You may stay here as long as you feel you have to."

Jennifer Moon ran over to him and hugged him around the waist. He chuckled and wondered if this was what he looked forward to when his daughter Lily would grow up. He patted her on the head and winked at Anne. "Especially you, Miss Cobble. I wouldn't want any of my students to get hurt on my watch, all right?"

She nodded hesitantly as Jennifer Moon let go of him and sat down onto the bed with Anne, hugging her. Then, he walked out. He found Astra with her face buried in a very old book. She looked up at him and raised her eyebrows. "What's going on?"

He took her elbow and led her away from the infirmary doors. "Boggart," he said.

"Let me guess. Voldemort showed up and suddenly everyone started screaming, eh?" she said. He forgot that she didn't know he was deathly afraid of Dementors. She had only arrived in his fifth year, when things were getting steadily worse.

"No. The boggart turned into a dementor and made one of the girls in my class faint. I just took her and her friend to the infirmary and had a massive talking to by Madame Pomfrey."

Astra coughed. "Pomfrey's still here? I thought she would've gone on vacation or something by now. The woman's got enough stress to die of a perforated stomach!"

Harry grinned faintly, but it disappeared quickly. "I think something is wrong with your sister or Kennedy."

Astra frowned. "Something wrong with Kennedy?" She knew her sister better than to think the woman would get hurt all that easily. She may have been more frail than Astra could ever be, but she did take of herself. Kennedy was another matter. He could be hurt easily. "I'll look into it," she said and then walked off quickly.

Harry sat back and watched her leave, sighing to himself once again. This was going to be tough on Astra if something was wrong with either her sister or her close friend. Kennedy had been there from the beginning, unlike him or any of his other friends. Kennedy knew what Astra had been through more than anyone else save her sister and her best friend Nevaeh. He walked back to his class and decided he would have to talk to Avalon later. 


	11. The Centaur Attack

A/N: Hope ya'll are likin' this! I think I'm getting more and more into it. XD

Chapter Eleven

"Did it work?"

"Yes."

"How well?"

"No telling. He could die within the next day or the next month. Maybe even in the next year."

The darkened form of a hooded man stood at the edge of the castle grounds, gazing up at the castle. "Not good enough." He grinned and whipped around, kicking the centaur in the middle of his chest. The centaur stumbled back and then fell down when he was hit with another blow to the jaw.

"I did what you told me to! You said you would let my tribe go!" Another blow to the stomach made him cough blood.

"I lied. You played your part well and now I'm through with you," said the cold, low voice. It was a youthful voice, one belonging to a man not in his twenties yet or just arriving. He raised his wand and grinned maliciously at the centaur. "As for your tribe, the hawk harpies will have fun ripping them apart." Then, there was a flash of green light.

Astra knocked on Avalon's door late that night and opened when she heard nothing. "Avalon? Are you here? Vee?"

Avalon was sitting in front of the fire, gazing into it. Astra walked over and sat down next to her sister. "What's wrong?"

"Have you ever felt like your whole life was meant for nothing?" she said in a soft voice.

Astra nodded. "Sometimes, though, not long."

Avalon didn't turn or even seem to blink as she stared into the fire. "I feel like that right now."

"Why?"

Avalon was silent for a moment before thrusting something powder like into the fire. The fire suddenly burst and Astra had to cover her eyes to keep from being blinded. "Wha! Vee?"

Avalon continued to stare into the fire. "The one thing I can never do is read my own fortune, see my own future. All I can do is see what I do through others lives. I suppose it's all a part of the time/space continuum that I should never be able to know fully what I will do unless I see it in someone else's future, so that I won't try to change what will happen and thus create a paradox."

"You know just as well as I do that time isn't like that. You can't create a paradox just because you did something differently than what you thought you were going to do. Time flows both in a circle and in a straight line, so that what happens will happen and the world be done with it," said Astra.

Avalon's gaze lowered and she put her hands on her face. "Then, explain to me why I thought Kennedy was the one I was intended to be with when he's going to die and leave me?"

Astra stared at her sister disbelievingly. "What?"

"You have Draco! Why can't I have what I want!" she moaned. "Why do I have to be the one that will grow old ALONE!" She was crying into her hands, her shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs. Astra's mouth went dry as she stared at her sister.

"You.. you must be joking, right? I mean, Kennedy has always been there. He couldn't die. Hell, he's worse than a cock roach! He'd survive a nuclear blast!" Astra was shaking herself, her heart frozen in her chest.

"He will die… very soon," said Avalon, though her voice still broke as she thought about the one man she ever loved dying and leaving her all alone. Astra knew Avalon hated being a lone more than anything, even though she put herself into her own solitude.

"You saw it?"

Avalon nodded and then looked to Astra. "And… he came back today from a trip saying he'd been attacked by something. He doesn't know what it was, but he knows he's weakening and soon he won't even be able to move."

"Poison? Was he attacked by a snake or something?" Astra frowned as she thought of any animal that could have hurt her friend.

"A snake would be predictable. No, something else hurt him, though I think poison is correct." She sighed and rubbed her face. "I don't know anymore what to think."

Astra thought of the boy she first fell in love with. Could Avalon's life be similar enough to her own that she would lose her first love? She hugged her sister tightly, rubbing her shoulders as she looked into the darkness on the other side of the room.

There was a creak as Kennedy walked in slowly. "Avalon?" he said in a soft voice.

Avalon and Astra looked up at Kennedy as he smiled at them tiredly. "I'm sorry if I kept you waiting, Avalon. I was downstairs talking to Headmistress Snape."

Astra stood up and walked over to Kennedy, hugging him. "Be careful," she whispered harshly before walking out.

Past the door, she started running. She kept running until she was outside and then she ran harder toward the forest. Harry saw Astra running toward the forest and was almost run into by her if she didn't slow before stopping in front of him. He could faintly see tears going down her cheeks, though she made no motion that she was crying.

"He's dying isn't he," Harry said softly.

Astra wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face against his chest, sobbing. He caught her and held her tightly, frowning more as he gazed down at his friend. He rubbed her back consolingly as he looked out into the moonlit grounds over the rims of his glasses. Whoever did this was going to pay, and he was going to make certain that it never happened again.

He suddenly heard something in the distance of the forest. He pushed Astra behind him and looked out into the darkness. "Who's there!" he growled.

Astra wiped her eyes quickly and looked about. She could hear better than he could, but whatever it was that was stalking them was making sure she couldn't pinpoint where it was.

Suddenly, a bunch of Centaurs appeared in the moonlight. Harry took a step back, knowing they didn't like humans much, if at all. He had been lucky to befriend one, but the rest weren't as nice. "What do you want?"

The biggest centaur he'd ever seen walked up to him. He had to crane his neck back to look up at him. "You did this. You and your friends killed most of my tribe!" Harry dodged the blow aimed at his head, the big centaur's hooves making a loud thump on the ground when he landed.

"I don't know what you are talking about!" he gasped as he felt Astra against his back. "We just got here!"

"You were stalking in this forest long before the female came. I know you and I know you lie," the centaur growled.

"He doesn't LIE! Don't you DARE accuse him of such a thing!" Astra snarled as she came out from behind Harry.

"SILENCE!"

Harry leapt to catch Astra, but was stopped when he saw her holding onto the Centaur's front hooves. She snarled like an animal and her hands tightened on the ankle joints, a crunching sound cutting through the air following it. The Centaur's face drained of color and he tried to break free. She was looking over her glasses at the beast-man, menacingly. Her very gaze seemed to make him fear what else she could do to him, much less her angry strength.

A loud and sickening crunch sounded and then centaur screamed, though the others stopped when he threw his arms out wide. "Stop your advances, centaur, or else I'll make sure you will never walk again," said Astra in a quiet, eerie tone. Another sickening crunch and the centaur let out another yelp of pain.

"I'd rather DIE than let you kill another of my tribe!" he growled.

A small smile spread across Astra's face than made Harry's blood turn to ice. "You want to die? Fine!" Then, she lifted the centaur up and kicked hard at a very sensitive area.

"Wait!" Harry called at her to stop, but he was too late. The centaur was on the ground stunned and in a great deal of pain, his hind legs curled around the afflicted area. Harry stared at the scene. Astra had just basically kicked a centaur in the crotch.

"Demon woman!" hissed one of the younger centaurs.

Astra cracked her knuckles and grinned nastily. "Anyone else?"

The centaurs shied away from her, one picking up their leader and all ran off into the distance. Astra trembled with adrenaline as she hit the ground on her knees as the reality of what had happened occurred to her. She'd broken both his front ankle joints and kicked him where all men feared to be kicked. She could have killed him if she wanted, but she had enough sense not to.

"Astra… are you all right?" asked Harry as he came up behind her.

She nodded and sighed, looking up at the moon through the trees. "Did you hear what they accused us of?"

"Actually, it was only me they accused," Harry corrected her. She shot him a look over her shoulder and he smiled faintly. "Not the point, I know." He looked into the darkness of the Forbidden Forest. "They said we killed most of their tribe."

"Only we didn't."

"No, we wouldn't ever harm them unless they tried to hurt us," Harry nodded. "He said I and my friends killed his tribe."

"What friends? I'm the only one here aside from Avalon that you really know," said Astra as she stood up.

"I know." He looked about and frowned. "We have to find out what they were talking about. It's the only way we'll know for certain what happened." Then, he took her hand and started jogging after the centaurs.

Astra had a little difficulty running after him, as he was much faster than she was. She saw broken branches, heard strange noises in the night and felt something coming that she didn't want to see.

They came to a clearing and found a massacre. Male, female and children centaurs were lying everywhere, pieces of them mostly. It was as though the centaurs had been ripped apart. Astra's jaw clenched as she gazed on the grizzly scene. "You know what this means, don't you," she said softly.

"We're in another war," Harry said, eyes fixed on the bright blood in the moonlight. "And we're not going to come out of it for a very long time." 


	12. The Master

A/N: and it's just one right after the other. And No, I don't know what I'm doing, I'm just sort of doing it. XD Gotta love me.

_Chapter Twelve

* * *

_

Harry got up for lunch, gathering his things together so that they wouldn't be everywhere. He'd just gotten through talking about werewolves in that class, though half the time reminding students that werewolves were normal people except when the moon was full and just before the full moon.

He walked toward the Great Hall when he thought of something. Professor Sprout had died in his seventh year and they had a substitutes and study hall for Herbology the rest of the year. He wondered who they got to permanently replace Sprout, or who they got to be the teacher for a year at least.

He walked to the greenhouses and found no one in them; however he saw a great number of unusual plants that looked very dangerous. "Who would keep plants like THIS?" he said as he spotted a giant Venus flytrap.

"I would of course," croaked someone behind him. Harry whipped around to see a very familiar face. Neville Longbottom looked like he was going to faint as he leaned up against the doorway.

"Neville!" Harry cried as he pulled Neville into a tight hug. Neville coughed and smiled in a weak manner. Harry frowned as he pulled away from Neville and stared at him. "Are you all right?"

Neville nodded. "Yes, I have been suffering from a cold for the past week. I see you and Knight are settling in nicely."

Harry frowned. "You should be in bed or in the infirmary if you are sick. Not working."

"It's only a cold, Harry. I've had worse, believe me." He coughed and then sneezed into a handkerchief before motioning to the greenhouse. "I see you've seen my collection. Lovely aren't they?"

"Bloody scary," Harry grunted as he looked at them. "One of my students, Jennifer Moon, is afraid of that big flytrap thing there. The boggart in the wardrobe turned into one and she made it dance."

Neville laughed weakly and rubbed his forehead. "Yes, well, Big Bertha there really likes eating people, but I feed her regularly enough, so that isn't a problem." He held up a bag of what looked to be live animals trying to get out. "I was just going to feed her."

"Lovely," Harry grimaced.

Neville walked toward Big Bertha and then stopped. "What are you doing here, Harry? You didn't want to be a teacher. You wanted to be an Auror. You ARE an auror."

Harry shook his head. "I can't tell you other than; it's a special assignment straight from Percy and Mr. Malfoy."

"Mr. Malfoy? Is he finally cooperating?"

Harry chuckled as he leaned against the doorway. Neville tossed a live rabbit at the plant. Big Bertha's mouth opened up and caught the little animal, trapping it inside. "I've heard some weird things, Harry. The Centaurs attacking anyone going into the forest, someone roaming around the forest in a black cloak, laughing at nothing; it's like seventh year never ended."

"It never did." Harry stared straight at his friend, green eyes blazing. "The centaurs attacked us a few nights ago. Astra was already angry, so it wasn't a big leap for her to grab onto this one big one's front legs and break them with her bare hands. We followed the centaurs into the forest to see what had caused them to think WE did anything to them." Harry's eyes unfocused as he saw the scene before him once again; bodies, pieces of bodies, littering the moonlit ground, the grass slick with blood. "I can't think of anyway to describe it to you. It was like they were swarmed upon and massacred right there."

Neville sneezed again and threw another rabbit at Big Bertha. "Sounds positively lovely," he grunted.

"There's more. Avalon—Mrs. Stark—said someone poisoned her husband Kennedy," said Harry as he shot a look around the room. "Has anyone besides you been in this room?"

Neville nodded. "Yes. This is Greenhouse three where students take care of the even deadlier plants than what is really required."

Harry nodded as he looked around again. "What sort of poison could make a man weak and tired; die very slowly or very quickly, the end unpredictable."

Neville blushed. "Ah—I was never good potions Harry. My plants are used IN potions, but aren't the sole creator of anything like that."

Harry nodded. "Too broad a description anyway." He sighed and moved away from the doorway. "I'll see you later, Neville," he said and then smiled, "It was wonderful to see you again." Then, he walked off.

* * *

"Where is it said to be again?"

"In the school, that's what the book said," said the new witch beside the cloaked man. She was old and wary of this one called The Master. He was too young to be thinking he can take over the world. She remembered only one other man who thought he could take over the world and the memory made her shudder.

The school bell rang as night fell, calling students to come to dinner. She looked to the cloaked man again and grimaced. "How are you planning on getting it, sir?"

"How do you think?" he said in a cold, gleeful tone.

The old witch looked to the young man with a glare. "You can not go in there on your own. They'll spot you."

"I count on it, my dear," he said. "However, you will serve as a welcome distraction from me."

She frowned. She knew this was going to happen. She was being used as bait. "What is it you wish me to do Master?"

"I'll let you know what you will do. Just go to the Great Hall and I'll tell you." Then, he touched her forehead and she screamed in agony.

* * *

Astra sat down at the teachers' table and stretched. "Oooh, I think I'm going to hurt those little Slytherin punks," she groaned.

"I hardly suggest that, Mrs. Malfoy. You are, after all, a teacher. Abusing your power on the students isn't setting a good example," said Mrs. Snape as she ate her dinner.

"Tell it to your man, McG. He's been doing that for years," grunted Astra as she shot a glare at Professor Snape next to Mrs. Snape.

"He knows he can not get away with that with me around. If he does, he'll get a severe penalty, correct, dear?" Minerva Snape glared at her husband in an almost 'I dare you' fashion. Snape just shrugged and looked away from Mrs. Snape. "See? He's been a very good boy for some time now."

Astra laughed. The sight of Professor Snape acting like the 'good little boy' was hilarious.

She noticed a movement not too far from the windows. She blinked and put her fork down as she watched the windows. It was almost black outside, except for a few stars, the ceiling reflecting this.

There was another movement and Astra saw the librarian, Madame Pince, walk into the hall, her hands at her sides like she was showing she didn't have any weapons on her. Astra frowned and stood. Students looked to Madame Pince curiously, the talking in the hall all but stopping.

"Madame Pince. Are you quite all right?" asked Mrs. Snape as she stood up.

"Yes, I am fine. I bring you a message," said Madame Pince.

"Message?" Mrs. Snape looked to her husband and saw he was staring at Madame Pince in a manner not unlike watching a terrorist about to explode. "Severus?"

"The Master wants you to know something," said Madame Pince in a strained tone, her lips drawn thin.

"What's that?" said Harry as he walked through the great hall doors.

She closed her eyes and tilted her face toward the ceiling. Astra jumped over the table with a shout. "NO!"

There was a flash of light and Madame Pince hit the ground. Harry ran head on into a sea of children running for the door, some of them older with their wands out. Harry heard a laugh echo through the room that sent chills down his spine. "ASTRA! WATCH OUT!"

Astra just managed to jump away as a metal rid buried itself where she had been. The ceiling hid whoever was sending out the crossbow bolts. "Good! I had hoped for a battle as such!" called the voice from the ceiling.

Harry ran toward the teacher table as fast as he could. Someone dropped down and landed in a crouch in front of Mrs. Snape, lashing out with a foot and sent her to the floor. Professor Snape punched the man on the jaw, but the man caught his wrist and twisted his arm with a cruel grin. Then, he twisted it harder and broke Snape's arm, kicking him in the chest with his foot. Snape hit the ground limply, pain shooting through his body.

The cloaked man laughed again and jumped from the table as Astra used of the plates as a Frisbee of sorts, throwing it at him. She ran and jumped onto the platform, running after the man.

Harry came up and went to Snape's side. "Are you all right sir?"

Snape growled as he sat up, holding his arm, which was bent in the wrong direction. "Get after him, NOW!"

Harry pulled out his wand and ran out through the teacher entrance. "Yes, sir."

Astra hit the wall behind her with a great force. Her whole body felt like electricity was going through it, though the fact she used to produce it herself saved her from most of the pain. A bolt was in her shoulder, imbedded to the hilt. The cloaked man chuckled and leaned into her, pushing the bolt further in. "Do you really think you can win, Elf?"

She let out a yelp of pain and jammed her hand into his stomach, feeling blood slicking down her fingers. The cloaked man growled and ripped the bolt from her shoulder. She cried out and trembled as she started to slip down the wall.

She looked up to see the cloaked man, The Master, throw the bolt down and grab his stomach. He was suddenly thrown back by Harry tackling him. Astra had a hard time focusing through the pain and the loss of blood as she tried to keep herself standing. "Harry! Watch out!"

Harry just managed to dodge one of the bolts aimed at him. He sent out a spell at the cloaked man as he ran after him. More of the teachers came around the other corner with a couple of students in tow.

"You can't escape now, whoever you are. Put down your wand and weapon, NOW!" growled Harry, blood coming from his mouth where the man had hit him.

The cloaked man grinned as he turned toward Harry. "You know, I think I'm going to enjoy this game now." Then, suddenly, the man jumped out a window and seemed to disappear.

Harry growled and ran to the window, ready to jump himself; however, a strong pair of arms wrapped around him and stopped him. "Stop! You'll hurt yourself, Harry!" said Neville.

Neville pulled Harry back into the hallway with some effort. Harry pushed Neville away and jogged over to Astra, pulling her away from the wall some and held her against him. "Neville! Get Madame Pomfrey! Hurry!"

Neville nodded and ran down the hallway. Harry brushed Astra's hair from her face as he looked down at her. "It's only a shoulder wound. You'll be all right."

Astra grunted. "Sweet talker. I'll have to tell Ginny you've been flirting with me."

Harry pulled her face up to look at him. "You need to stay conscious. Come on, keep talking to me."

"I…can't." She smiled faintly at him and then all went black for her.


	13. It's Here

A/N: thank you for reviewing finally! As for when the others will show up, they will eventually. You must remember that they all lead separate lives now and will have to show up as the story progresses.

Anyway, who likes the way I portray evil characters? XD

_Chapter Thirteen_

* * *

Harry woke up to the sound of someone walking into the infirmary. He looked around and saw someone he did not want to see at that moment. Mr. Malfoy walked over and stood, leaning on his cane, and gazed at Astra with a look that was so guarded it was hard to tell what he was thinking.

Harry was debating whether he should ask why the man was there in the first place, but Mr. Malfoy beat him to it. "She's an idiot."

"She was trying to do her duty, sir," Harry said with a growl in his voice.

"Her duty is to be the mother of my son's children, to take care of them and protect them, not get herself killed in a stupid battle," he said in a soft voice.

"It was only a small fight," said Harry as he stood up.

"It was a battle and she could very well have died in that same battle that killed the school librarian." Mr. Malfoy bowed his head slightly toward Astra. Harry wondered if Mr. Malfoy's gruffness was him showing his worry for his daughter-in-law. It made little sense for the man to worry about her when despised her, but the thought occurred to him that maybe he might be feeling a little love toward his son's wife.

"She'll be all right, Mr. Malfoy," Harry said, testing his theory.

Mr. Malfoy finally looked to him with an annoyed glare. "Did I ask you for your input? I know very well she'll be all right," he snapped coldly.

Harry's theory wasn't helped any. He sighed and sat back down again, looking on at Astra. She had lost a lot of blood from that one wound. She looked as white as the sheet she was under. A knot formed in the pit of his stomach as he gazed at her, wishing it had been him that was hit instead.

"She does this for you, for everyone. Such a stupid girl; does she think she can save the world all alone? Does she think she can save everyone all by herself?" said Mr. Malfoy quietly. "What if she died? Who would take care of my grandson and my son?"

"She's not going to die. She's made of tougher stuff than most of us will ever know. I've seen her come back with worse injuries, half dead and still trying to protect everyone," Harry said with a faint smile. He had been right; Mr. Malfoy was worried about her, if only for his son's sake.

Mr. Malfoy turned toward the doors and started walking out. "My son will be here with my grandson soon. When she wakes up, tell her that." Then, he walked out, leaving Harry alone with Astra once more. It made Harry smile a bit seeing Mr. Malfoy actually worried about someone's welfare rather than being the cold-hearted snake he was so often.

He still didn't rule him out as a cold-hearted snake, but he did think the snake had actual feelings and warmth somewhere inside that body. It meant that not everyone was as horrible as they seemed if given the opportunity. It meant that Ginny and Astra were right when they told him that love can change people for the better.

He suddenly thought of his wife at home, taking care of Lily. He walked over to the fireplace and threw in a pinch of floo powder from the bowl next to it. Then, he stuck his head in as he shouted into the fire for his own home.

He saw a swirling tunnel at first; firelight everywhere and the heat of the flames making it hard to breath. Then, he saw his home. He heard a faint sound in the distance, Lily crying. He wanted to reach out for Lily to help quiet her, but he couldn't.

"Ginny! Ginny!" he called.

There was only the sound of crying. He couldn't even hear someone moving around. "GINNY! WHERE ARE YOU?"

There was finally a scuffling sound, someone running into the den where their fireplace was. Ginny appeared in the den, frazzled and pale. "Harry? HARRY!" She ran over to the fireplace and got down on her hands and knees. "Harry! What's going on? Are you all right?"

Harry blinked. "I was going to ask the same! What's wrong with Lily? Is she all right? Why is she crying? Why do you look so scared?"

Ginny laughed and placed her hands in the fireplace, putting her cool hands on either side of his face. She kissed him gently and smiled. "Nothing. Nothing is wrong, I just… I was trying to put Lily in her crib for a nap and I heard something that sounded like someone breaking in. I should've known it was just you."

Harry frowned. "Do I make that much noise when doing this?"

Ginny tilted her head to the side. "I really don't know. I just heard something strange and when I heard your voice, I nearly jumped out of my skin."

Harry frowned even more, looking more than just concerned. "Ginny, we had an attack here at the school. The man we've been trying to catch broke in and killed Madame Pince. He shot Astra in the shoulder with a crossbow of sorts, but she's all right. I need to know what sort of strange sound you heard."

"It was nothing. I heard something like someone coming into the house, that's it. I think it was your head coming through the fireplace is all," she said, trying not to sound worried. Harry could see it in her face, though.

"Be careful, Ginny. The last thing I want to lose is you and Lily," he said softly.

"I know, Harry. I love you," she said as she kissed him again.

Harry could feel himself being pulled back. "I love you, Ginny!" he gasped as he felt his head jerk back through the flames. He landed on his back, glasses askew as he looked up at someone a bit blurry and pale, but a great deal bulkier up near his shoulders that Harry thought should be humanly possible.

"You have some nerve leaving my wife lying there without supervision, Potter," growled a familiar voice. Harry's nerves frayed more when he heard it.

He sat up and pushed his glasses back onto his nose. "Shut up, Malfoy. She'll be fine. I was just looking in on my own wife, you twisted ass."

Harry looked up and saw the reason for the strange appearance of Draco. He had in his arms a red haired little boy with bright blue eyes, bluer than the ocean. Draco hefted the boy a bit more and glared at Harry, squinting slightly. The man was always too vain to wear his glasses.

Harry stood up and looked at the boy. "Is that… YOUR son?"

Draco smiled at Harry and grabbed Harry's collar. "Don't make me hurt you, Potter," he said as a vein began to throb on his forehead.

"That's right, Astra first showed up as a blonde, not white haired. Plus you're related to the Weasleys so it just goes with it that you should end up with a little red haired boy," grinned Harry.

"You really enjoy testing me, don't you," grunted Draco. He patted his son affectionately on the head and smiled faintly. Then, he turned and walked over to where Astra was laying. "Has she been awake at all?"

"Before or after she was skewered?" said Harry.

Draco shot him a glare and then looked back at Astra, placing Kevin next to her, moving her limp arm around the boy. He kneeled down and stroked his wife's cheek, frowning. Harry suddenly felt very bad about teasing Draco, but he knew Draco would have done the same to him if it had been Ginny.

The thought of Ginny in Astra's position made his heart stop. He shook slightly as he sat down in a chair, trying to calm down his heart. He wouldn't put it past whoever was getting into the school to try to take him down by going after Ginny, but he couldn't bring her closer to him because that would make her a definite target.

He wiped his forehead, getting his color back. He would have to keep Ginny where she was, or send her back to her parents so she would be safe. He stood up as Draco looked at him. "What on Earth is wrong with you?"

"I need an owl. I need to send Ginny someplace safe," he said quickly as he ran out of the infirmary. He ran to the owlry and pulled down an owl that looked light and fast only to be surprised to see someone most familiar flap down to him. Hedwig looked as well groomed as an older owl could look, but she was still flight capable and accurate. It was almost a source of pride with her that she stayed by his side even when he forgot to bring her.

"You're here, Hedwig," he smiled as he stroked her feathers. He set her down gently and wrote out a quickly letter to Ginny. Then, he tied it to Hedwig's leg and sent her off.

He suddenly felt a familiar feeling of wonderment as he watched his old bird fly away. He was in his twenties and he still had Hedwig by his side. She was getting on in her years, but she still flew his letters to and from wherever he needed her.

He walked out of the infirmary and ran into Avalon. He blinked as he looked to her. "Vee? Are you all right?"

She turned her gaze toward him slowly, hair in front of her face. "It's here," she said softly, "He knows it's here, where two dragons fight each other." Then, she walked off around the nearest corner.

Harry jogged to catch up with her, but found she'd disappeared. He looked around the hall and saw nothing, not even the sound of her walking could be heard. "It's… It's happening again." Then, he ran to find another owl.

* * *

"Where two dragons meet and fight each other for control, is where it will be found." The cloaked man read from the book in front of him and grinned. Killing the librarian had been fun. He thought about who else could die that would be just as fun, aside from his main target Harry.

The elf-woman had been fun, of course, but then she fought him off like a rabid animal. Anything so in tune to their instincts was going to be both trouble and entertaining to destroy. Harry needed to be more in tune to his instincts. He needed learn to fight without abandon like the elf.

He closed the book and looked to the castle once more. A sick grin played across his face as he stood. "This will not end for a very long time," he said to the air, "Because I will make sure it will never end."

* * *

Draco sat beside Astra and held her arm around Kevin. His wife had been out for a long time, not even moving. Her pale complexion was now white and her light freckles on her cheeks stood out from the rest of her oddly. He sighed and leaned down, placing a kiss on her forehead.

He couldn't think of a time he felt more uneasy than when she had been giving birth to their son. She had constantly told him never to worry about her, that she would always be all right. She had said a little thing like giving birth would be no problem, but when he heard her screams, he couldn't handle even being in the same area as her. He wanted nothing more than to rip out Kevin for her and be done with it. It frayed his nerves every time he heard another scream from her throat.

Now, he heard nothing from her except her breathing.

"Astra, please wake up. That wound was nothing and you know it. Sure you lost some blood, but what about it? You've had worse injuries and lived through them. Hell, you've been awake through them, so why start being the damsel in distress now, knight?" Draco said in a harsh whisper in her ear.

A faint smile twitched at her face. He almost didn't see it. He grunted and held her hand. "You always did like making me almost have a heart attack."

Astra opened her eyes and smiled at Draco. She felt Kevin moving against her and her arm came around him, bracing him against her body, though a shot of pain in her shoulder stopped her. "Urgh—damn it."

"You should know better than that," he grunted. He picked up Kevin and placed him in his lap, holding him up for Astra to see. "You were just waiting around for me to show up and pray at your bedside for you to come back, weren't you?"

"Actually, I was having a most interesting dream, though I…can't recall it for the life of me." She slowly sat up and smiled weakly at him. "Thank you for coming, though."

"Don't expect me to always come when you're lying unconscious on a bed with a pole stuck through you," Draco drawled. However, his expression of annoyance gave her a better image of what he felt. He felt relief that she was all right. It was the Malfoy way to try to act as though nothing could ever bother them even when it did, though that rule went out the window when they were faced with something bigger than they were.

She put a hand on her aching shoulder and grinned at Draco. The iamge of him with their son was almost priceless, even if Kevin looked nothing like Draco except the pointed face.

"Kevin will grow up to look like you, you know. Only with pointed ears," she said with a smile.

"The pointed ears are fine, as long as his mother will continue staying around him," Draco said gruffly.

"I love you, Draco," she chuckled. Then, she leaned over and kissed him, his own mouth pushing hers so that her head was back on the pillow.

"Don't sit up for a while. Lie down and let Madame Pomfrey take care of you," he said softly against her lips. "I'll stay here with you with Kevin in my lap."

She smiled and kissed him again, thanking God silently inside her heart for her blessings.


	14. The Gang's all here!

A/N: and here we go with another chapter. Hope ya'll are enjoyin' yourselves.

_Chapter Fourteen_

* * *

Astra recovered from her wounds and was back to teaching class again. Harry could be seen on his off hours in the library looking through mounds of books instead of checking homework, though he did get a smart wrap on the skull from Astra if he didn't.

On the week after Madame Pince had been killed in the Great Hall, Harry found Hedwig and the other owl on his desk. He ran over and took the letters, reading them quickly.

_Harry,_

_I've gone to the Burrow with Lily. Mum and Dad said that it was all right and that they would watch Lily if I had to go out. I wish you all the luck in the world and give you all my love. I will protect our baby with my life if I have to, but I doubt I will._

_Love,_

_Ginny_

Harry smiled and tore up the paper and then set it on fire in his hand. He didn't want the letter getting read by anyone else but him. He opened the other one and grinned, seeing Hermione's handwriting.

_Harry,_

_I'm writing you from my desk at home. Ron is on the look out for anything, though really, he needs to take it easy. He's more stressed than I am._

_I think your idea would be a great one; at least Ron would finally be able to relax some being in familiar surroundings. He's worse than Crookshanks, and cats are normally high strung!_

_Love from the two of us,_

_Hermione Weasley_

Harry grinned as he sat back in his chair. He'd have his two best friends there to help him, just like in the old days. It had been a long time and he'd missed being with them in such a manner. The teachers' quarters were big enough for two people to live in for a long time, so he had no doubts as to Ron staying inside the castle.

He gave both owls a bit of roll he'd taken from the kitchen and stared out the window. He was going to have to find out what was going on soon or else someone else might get hurt.

* * *

"I don't get it. How did he get inside anyway? You can't get in through those windows normally. Unless, Filch the ever incompetent janitor left those windows open," said Astra as she looked at Filch as he was walking past her. Harry sighed as Filch glared at her. She grinned evilly at the man and shooed him away with a dismissive hand, languishing in the power she now had over the vile man.

Harry pulled her by her arm into the Library. "I need help finding something," he said shortly.

Astra rolled her eyes. "Do you even know what it is you are looking for?"

"Your sister said, 'Where two dragons fight' and so I'm trying to find anything on something that happens or is held between two dragons fighting."

"And you listen to her?" Astra knew better than that, but her sister did enjoy playing with people.

"You said it yourself. She doesn't speak unless she has something to say," Harry said as they walked into the library. There were children studying at the tables, some in the big comfortable chairs. Astra grunted and took her arm back as Harry walked into the restricted section. "And I have reason to believe it's in here?"

"And why is that?" Astra grunted.

Harry grinned. "Because anything that a Minimort would want would be in here."

Astra laughed, holding onto the side of a bookcase to keep herself from falling. Children turned, curious as to what was so funny that a teacher was nearly falling down.

"You've been staying around me too long, Harry," she gasped. "Minimort," she sniggered.

Harry pulled her into the restricted section and started pulling out books and looking at the spines. "No.. no… Ghost Sex Manual?" Harry stared at the cover of the book in his hands and was almost afraid to look into it, but his curiosity was getting the better of him.

Astra took it from him and opened it, looking through the pages. Then, she turned it to the side. She kept turning it around until she held it away from her like it was about to bite her, cringing. "I don't think silvery entrails can be used like that." Harry was now very glad she looked through it instead of him. He took it from her and put it back with a sigh.

She got on her toes and started bouncing up to look at the higher shelves, though Harry didn't need to do that himself. He was already at nearly eye level with the shelves. He patted her on the head and she bit him. "OW! What was that for!"

"For being taller than I am," she grunted.

"Honestly! I finally get here, my back is killing me and you two are acting like children!" Harry and Astra turned to see an irritated and very pregnant Hermione standing at the entrance of the Restricted Section. "What in the world am I going to do with you two?" she said with a smile, finally.

Harry chuckled as Astra nearly tackled Hermione, hugging her. "Oh my God! I missed you so much, Hermione!" she giggled.

Hermione laughed and patted Astra on the head as she let go of the pregnant woman. "Good girl, good girl."

Harry walked over and hugged Hermione. "Did you just arrive here?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, we did. Ron is putting our things into Madame Pince's room right now. He looks a bit like he could topple over any moment," Hermione said, chuckling.

Astra laughed. "Sounds about right! Draco went through that, though he denies it now, the idiot. Hopefully, Ron will break out of that stupor he's in right now when the kid's born."

Hermione sighed. "Not bloody likely."

Harry took Hermione over to a comfortable chair and sat down across from her, Astra standing next to Hermione's chair. "So, tell me what it is you're looking for. What is this Master that killed Madame Pince?"

"We haven't the foggiest idea," said Astra. "Minimort, as we've started calling him, just came in through the windows of the Great Hall, through the ceiling where no one would be able to see him with some sort of cross bow and shot Madame Pince when she said 'I bring a message from the Master'. Very dramatic and whatnot."

Hermione's face frowned deeply, looking to Harry. "You shouldn't be able to come in through the windows in the ceiling because they're always locked. Owls come in through the ones below, but not in the ceiling."

"I figure Pincer had something to do with it. She probably told Filch to get those windows open and keep them that way," Astra said as she put a finger to her lips, thinking. Harry could see the cogs in her mind working, almost to the point of blinding speed. She wasn't as book smart as Hermione and couldn't figure out riddles like Hermione, but she was still just as intelligent.

Harry smirked. Two good minds thinking out the entire situation would help the cause immensely. He leaned forward and placed his chin on his knuckles, pushing his glasses up. Hermione was starting to look distressed. "Er—what was the message Madame Pince saying—before—you know."

"That's it. She dropped to the ground with a bolt through the heart after she said 'I bring a message from the Master'," said Astra.

"That is the message," said Harry suddenly.

Hermione was now starting to feel useless, asking silly questions that the two of them could answer without her. "What is the message?"

Harry growled as he stood, getting that brooding look he tended to get when he was angry. His fists balled at his sides as he wondered what sort of fool he was to have not seen it before. "That is the message. He can come into this castle whenever he chooses; use anyone he wants for his deeds. He's telling us that we are powerless against him."

Astra's face hardened like Harry's, both gazing at each other over the rims of their glasses. Then, she smirked. "But he doesn't know that we are NOT powerless and that with everyone here, we can beat anything. We are stronger than one lone man coming into the castle."

"There you go with the bright and cheerful happy ending again, Astra," drawled Draco as he walked over to them. She looked at his empty hands and he smiled. "He's asleep."

Astra relaxed slightly and smiled, mouthing a thank you to him before turning to Harry. "Remember, Harry? Seventh year looked down right bleak, but Hermione figured out the countdown and we were able to stop the annihilation of Hogwarts."

"You're putting too bright an image for that situation. People were killed, more than should have been allowed," countered Harry.

"So? We stopped him. Their deaths weren't in vain," said Astra, putting her hands on her hips. "And neither will Madame Pince's."

"Oh stop being so defeatist, Harry. We'll figure out what the man's going after before he can get it," said Ron as he walked in. By now, all the students were watching the small group of adults speak.

Harry noticed them and blushed faintly. "We should speak in my office."

* * *

In Harry's office, Ron and Hermione sat down next to each other. Astra and Draco were nearest to him and he was at his desk. "Geez, Harry, you really need to check those homework papers or you're going to get in trouble with Mrs. Snape," said Astra eyeing his desk. She hated grading papers too, but at least she did it.

"Avalon said that whatever he's looking for is in between two dragons that are fighting. Does any of this sound familiar?" he asked. Hermione frowned, but shook her head, Astra just shrugged as did Ron and Draco.

"How is Kennedy?" asked Ron.

Astra seemed to shrink away from the group, as though a dark veil were suddenly dropped in front of her. "He's tired and seems to be running into things a bit more than usual," said Harry. "I still don't know what it is that's in him. The symptoms are too general."

Hermione nodded and stood up carefully with Ron's help. "What are the symptoms again?"

"Fatigue, coordination is off, can't think straight," said Harry.

"I'll look up any of those and see if I can't find something. I'll also look up anything on magical artifacts that include dragons fighting." Hermione smiled at Harry. "Don't worry, it's what I'm here for."

"What DID bring you here, Weasleyette?" Draco drawled as he put an arm around his wife's shoulders.

"Didn't Harry say anything? I've accepted the position of Librarian temporarily until they can find a new one," she said, smiling brightly.

Draco grunted, but said nothing. Astra smiled at Hermione. "I hope you won't be as mean and nasty as Pincer was."

Hermione laughed. "I'll be worse!" Then, she walked out laughing, Ron looking a bit worried as he walked behind her.

Harry grinned and leaned back in his chair. This time, he knew they were going to triumph against the Master. Hermione and Ron were there to help him and stay by his side. Astra and Draco left his office soon after Hermione and Ron left, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts. Thankfully, they were good thoughts.


End file.
